Princess of Light, Angel of Darkness
by PerfectDisaster22
Summary: A mysterious woman is found on the steps of the Roman Basilica, and it soon becomes apparent that her past ties into Van Helsing's. When they go to Romania to deal with Dracula, details of their past start to emerge...
1. Chapter 1

Slowly, I cracked open my eyelids, wincing as my pupils were flooded with bright light

Slowly, I cracked open my eyelids, wincing as my pupils were flooded with bright light. At the same time, my body woke back up, virtually every part of me screaming in some sort of pain. I blinked a few times and drew deep, steady breaths, adjusting to the light and the pain. When I felt able, I opened my eyes fully again to take in my surroundings. I tried to sit up, but winced as a sharp pain shot through my torso. I lowered myself back onto the pillow, wincing as I irritated my broken ribs again.

The room was small, dimly lit by candles and a low-burning fire in the fireplace. The walls were rough and whitewashed, bare but for an oil painting of the Good Shepard surrounded by sheep, with a lamb in his arms, that hung on the wall opposite me. There were no windows. Three worn and threadbare red rugs made small patches of color on the wood floor. I lay in a small, twin-sized bed, covered by warm red blankets to match the rugs, and supported by many soft pillows and the surprisingly comfortable mattress.

"Where am I?" I asked, my voice hoarse and cracking, barely above a whisper.

"It is good to see you awake," came a woman's voice.

I looked over my right shoulder to see a small alcove I hadn't noticed before. Sitting there was an elderly woman, dressed in a black habit and white wimple. In her lap was a book of devotions, and in her hands was a well-used rosary, made of beads of cedarwood. Blue eyes twinkled serenly out of a kind, motherly, wrinkled face.

Upon realizing she was an abbess, I involuntarily crossed myself in blessing. Then I stared at my right hand; where had that reflex come from? The old woman smiled gently, as if what I had done was nothing out of the ordinary.

"A Catholic, I see," she murmured.

"I… Who are you?" I asked, swallowing in a vain attempt to moisten my sandpaper-dry throat.

The old nun stood and walked to a small table at the end of my bed. She picked up a cracked jug and poured me a goblet of water, handing it to me with a smile. I thanked her and drank it thirstily.

"My name is Mother Agnes," she said. "I am the Mother Superior of the convent of Carmelite nuns here."

"Where is _here_?" I queried.

She smiled. "You are in the Vatican, in Rome. You have been here for a week. How you got here and where you came from, I do not know."

She looked at me questioningly. I furrowed my brow and tried to think, but found to my horror that I could remember nothing. I had no memories at all. No clue of where I had come from… what I looked like… my name. I had nothing at all. I shook my head, a vague panicky feeling creeping into my chest.

"Can you remember your name?" she asked gently.

I closed my eyes, searching through the infinite black void of my mind. A name bubbled just under the surface of the great nothingness. I furrowed my brow further, forcing the name into the light.

"Mikael," I replied. "My name is Mikael."

"Mikael," Mother Agnes murmured. "_Who is like God_. It is the proper Hebrew name for St. Michael, the Prince of Archangels."

Some sort of strange recognition rang in the corners of my head at her words. I looked up at her, trying to piece together some form of memory, but nothing would come.

"Is there anything else?" she prompted.

I closed my eyes again, and slowly a vague picture came to me. It was of a man, very tall, swathed in black…

"Gabrael," I whispered, keeping my eyes closed. The name felt like a caress, a form of comfort. For unknown reasons, I smiled to myself. "Gabrael."

"Who is Gabrael?" Mother Agnes asked softly.

I strained to remember, but again nothing would come. I sighed in frusteration.

"I can't remember…"

Mother Agnes smiled gently. "Your memory will return, in time. The Cardinal will want to see you, now that you've woken up."

"The Cardinal?" I asked.

She nodded. "Cardinal Lorenzo Albaretti. I will return shortly. While I'm gone, you can freshen up."

She pointed to a small chest that stood in one corner of the room. Hanging above the chest was a mirror, and sitting on the lid was a basin and jug and a brush.

"Do you think you can stand?" she asked.

I slowly sat up and pushed back the covers. "One way to find out."

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, shivering as my bare feet touched the floor. I gingerly put my full weight on my feet. My entire body ached, but my legs held me. I looked up and grinned triumphantly.

Mother Agnest beamed. "There are fresh clothes in the chest."

With that, she opened the door and left me alone.

: Mother Agnes's POV :

I walked as quickly as propriety would allow to the Cardinal's office, raising my hand in blessing to the nuns of my abbey who walked the halls. I knocked on the thick wooden door of the Cardinal's office and entered when he called, "Come in."

"Your Grace," I said, inclining my head slightly.

"Mother Agnes," the Cardinal said in greeting, returning the gesture of respect. "I take it that the girl has awoken?"

"Yes, Cardinal," I nodded.

"Very good," he said. "Have you discovered anything about her?" he asked.

"Precious little," I responded. "Her name is Mikael."

"Mikael?" the Cardinal asked.

I nodded. "Her accent leads me to believe she is Romanian. She has no memory."

The Cardinal looked up, interested. "Like Van Helsing."

"Very much like Van Helsing," I agreed.

"Is there anything else?" the Cardinal asked.

"Well… she remembers someone named Gabrael…" I said.

The Cardinal looked up quickly, shock etched all over his face. I nodded slowly, knowing his thoughts were going along the same lines as mine.

When Van Helsing first came to us, he had been in the grips of a high fever. In his delirium, he had never once awoken. He had only muttered two names over and over again.

Gabrael… and Mikael.

"You don't think…?" I began.

"I do not know," the Cardinal replied. "But it is very interesting. Very interesting indeed."

: Mikael's POV :

I took a cautious first step as Mother Agnes closed the door. I had no broken bones in my legs, as far as I could tell, but for some unknown reason every part of me ached. I looked down at my bare legs, which seemed to go on forever out of the large blousy shirt I was wearing. There were several nasty cuts and bruises marring them. Once I ascertained that I could walk, I fairly lunged for the mirror.

My reflection was faint and hazy. I stared into the glass; I could dimly see the outlines of a great castle atop an icy mountain. I shook my head in disbelief; I must have been hallucinating. I blinked a time or two and focused on my reflection.

My eyes were a cold, steely gray, almost silver. They were surrounded by thick sooty lashes and delicate black brows. My skin was very fair, nearly white, with very little bloom in my cheeks. My lips were on the fuller side and well-formed. My hair was black, thick and wavy, and hung to the bottom of my shoulderblades. On my right forearm was a small white design, almost like a brand, of a winged dragon. I smiled faintly.

That's when I saw my teeth. My canines were sharp, just a bit longer than a normal person's. It made me look faintly vampyric.

I shook my head, sure I was just imagining things. I poured water from the jug into the basin and splashed the water on my face. The cool liquid felt good against my skin. I brushed my hair and plaited it into a single long braid. Then I opened the trunk, to find stacks of neatly folded clothes. I automatically pushed aside the dresses and instead grabbed a pair of tight black breeches and a black blouse that tied up the front. I also pulled on knee-high black boots with a small heel.

Upon closing the chest, I noticed that on the small section of wood behind the hinges rested a necklace, a silver cross that hung off of a black ribbon. I picked it up, rubbing my thumb against the metal of the cross. I stared at it, recognition again bubbling up from the blackness of my mind; this must have been mine. I clasped it around my neck and looked into the mirror again, fingering the cross where it hung just below the hollow of my neck.

That's when I saw the ring on my left ring finger. It was beautiful in its simplicity; a blood red ruby set in a six-prong setting on a gold band. I stared at it; where on earth had I gotten this, and what did it mean?


	2. Chapter 2

: Mikael's POV :

: Mikael's POV :

_knock, knock, knock_

"Come in," I called.

The door opened and in walked Mother Agnes. Behind her was a middle-aged man dressed in scarlet robes. His face was grave, his demeanor denoting a man used to weilding his power. He and I just looked at each other for a moment, sizing each other up.

"Mikael, this is the Cardinal," Mother Agnes said. "I'll leave you two alone."

She inclined her head at the Cardinal in respect and left, quietly shutting the door behind her. The Cardinal and I observed each other again. His face was wrinkled, but his eyes shone brightly. I could detect a sense of humor and kindness under his stern façade.

Finally, I broke the silence. "How did you find me?"

"_I_ did not find you," the Cardinal replied. "You were found lying unconscious on the steps of the Basilica by Van Helsing."

"Van Helsing," I repeated, annoyed by the vague stirring of recognition that flared up again.

The Cardinal nodded. "He's… an associate of mine."

He seemed unwilling to divulge further information about this associate of his, so I didn't press him.

"Alright, so I was found by Van Helsing," I said.

"Yes," the Cardinal nodded. "You were unconscious, your body covered in gashes and bruises. You looked as though you had battled all of the forces of Hell single-handedly. We had nothing with which to identify you."

I nodded, mulling this information over. So, it seemed that I had just suddenly appeared out of the sky… no memories, no clue who I truly was… nothing.

"Come, let us walk," the Cardinal said.

He led me out the door and into the labryinth that was the Basilica. We walked in relative silence, broken only when I found something of interest, and then he would explain what it was.

Eventually, I realized that the Cardinal was not leading us; I was. My feet instinctively led me through the halls and corridors of the Basilica, directing me to I knew not where.

Suddenly, I found us standing before a large set of double-doors. I glanced at the Cardinal, confused; he just gave me a cryptic smile. I stepped forward and gripped the ornate door handle, then pulled open the door to find that I had led us to an armory.

I walked in slowly, as if in a dream. The armory was filled with weapons. Swords and coats of arms along the walls, racks of axes, staffs, spears, maces and clubs, guns and cannons…

"This place," I whispered. "It's like a memory from a dream."

I moved through the armory, feeling as if I were surrounded by some transparent fluid in the air that slowed my movements and made me feel like I was in some surreal environment. I reached out and wrapped my hands around the hilts of two short swords. I unsheathed one, turning it over thoughtfully in my hand. Though my head sensibly told me to put the thing away before I took someone's eye out, my hand told me that it was all right, that I knew what I was doing. I slashed at thin air a few times, experimentally. Some strong force bubbled within me; muscle memory of some sort. Moving as if in a dream, I pulled the other sword from its scabbard, beginning a complicated series of fight moves.

_Don't think. Just do it._

I closed my eyes and let myself go. The movements came naturally to me; I didn't have to think about it. Faster and faster I went, going through a beautiful, fluid series of movements. As I went further on, it became apparent to me that what I was doing was a kind of choreographed dance… something I was meant to do with a partner.

But who?

I turned back to the Cardinal, who had another enigmatic little smile on his face.

"That was very good," he said.

"I… thank you…" I said, slightly shaken and wondering how in the world I had remembered that.

He looked at me for a moment before speaking. "It is clear that you have no conscious memories. However, the clues to your past may still be locked in your mind. Perhaps if we put you under hypnosis, we could learn who you truly are."

I nodded slowly. "We have nothing to lose."

The Cardinal nodded, then led me back to his office. He showed me in and I sat down, looking around in interest. The walls were covered with shelves of books. The deep-set windows were flooded with sunlight, and I squinted for a moment as my eyes adjusted to the bright light.

"Wait here a moment. One of the monks here is very skilled with mesmerism. I will fetch him, and we will begin the hypnosis," the Cardinal said before leaving.

After he left, I stood, walking around and looking at the books. Some of them were books on religious treatises or doctrines, but by and large they dealt with topics such as werewolves, warlocks, demons, spirits, vampyres, and the like.

Fifteen minutes later, the Cardinal re-entered his office, leading a friar. His hair was dirty blond, and gently flipped up at the ends. His big blue eyes stared out of his honest face. He was very short, and clumsy. In the process of walking across the Cardinal's office, he tripped over the doorframe, the rug, and his own cassock.

"This is Carl," the Cardinal said, motioning me back into the chair. "We'll hypnotize you and try to determine anything that might help us locate any family you may have."

I nodded to show that I understood. Carl walked in front of me and bent down so our eyelines were even. He dangled a watch before my face and swung it from side to side, very slowly.

"You are getting sleepy," he said in a low, soothing voice. "Very sleepy."

"Sleepy," I murmured.

I watched the watch swing back and forth, back and forth… back… and forth… back… and… forth… back…

Darkness swallowed me.

: Cardinal Albaretti's POV :

"What are we looking for?" Carl asked, turning towards me.

"Anything," I replied. "Anything at all."

He nodded and hesitantly stepped up to Mikael, whose eyes were closed. Observing her, I noticed how still she was. She had no extraneous movement whatsoever. It was almost unnatural, how still she was.

"Um… how are you?" Carl timidly asked.

"I'm hypnotized," she matter-of-factly answered. "I'm as good as can be expected under the current circumstances."

I shook my head at Carl incredulously. He shrugged his shoulders embarrasedly. I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. When you want something done right…

"How did you end up at the Basilica, Mikael?" I asked.

"I crawled," she replied.

"Why were you crawling?"

"Because I was hurt and couldn't walk anymore."

I nodded, a small smile quirking the corner of my lips. I knew I wouldn't get any more information out of her about how she got here. She must not have had any memory about that.

Either that, or her purpose in Rome was clandestine in nature.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Do not be decieved by this earthen vessel," she replied. "I am much older than my body appears. Much older."

I spent a moment puzzling over her cryptic answers before moving on.

"Why did you come to Rome?"

"I was sent here," she replied.

"By who?"

"By the hand of the Lord."

Strange; the longer I spent questioning her, the more mysterious she became.

"What were you doing before you came here?" I asked.

Mikael was silent for many a long minute; it was as if she were struggling with herself, debating how much information to divulge.

"I was looking for someone," she finally answered.

"Who? Who were you looking for?" I asked.

She went silent again; it seemed that she wasn't going to say, or couldn't remember. Carl opened his mouth to speak again, but I silenced him with a hand gesture.

"Gabrael," she whispered after an eternity.

She said Gabrael's name softly, lovingly. It sounded like a caress, a form of comfort to her.

"I was looking for Gabrael. I was sent to find him."

I stared at her; so she and Van Helsing had both known this mysterious Gabrael. Instantly, my mind started puzzling through how she and Van Helsing could possibly have known each other.

"Who is Gabrael?" I asked urgently.

"My partner," she replied. "We were given a mission from the Lord."

"What kind of mission?" I asked, searching her neutral face.

"To fight evil," she responded darkly.

I glanced at Carl. _To fight evil… _Had she been sent here to help the Order in its mission? And where had the missing Gabrael gone? Why had Mikael hoped to find him here in Rome?

"You are from Transylvania, yes?" I asked.

"Yes, that is where I was reincarnated this time," she replied.

"What is your last name?" Carl asked.

"My last name is cursed," she said darkly. "It is spoken with fear and loathing in Transylvania. When Gabrael and I traveled, I used his last name."

"What name is that?" I asked.

Here, I hoped, was the key to the mysteries surrounding Mikael.

She opened her mouth, as if in slow motion. The silence in the air was so thick, it could almost be cut with a knife.

"His name," she said, "is Van Helsing."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Thanks to those who've given me reviews, I truly appreciate it

**Author's Note**: Thanks to those who've given me reviews, I truly appreciate it! I'm not used to getting feedback from my readers, so I find this encouraging! A special thanks to Dr.Lust for the comments that went beyond just "good job, want more."

**Disclaimer**: I realize that in the movie, Van Helsing's name is spelled "Gabriel." But I was doing some research and found variations on that spelling, and "Gabrael" struck my fancy. That's really the only reason why his name is spelled like that; there's no ulterior motive (as far as I know).

: Cardinal Albaretti's POV :

Carl and I stared at each other in shock. Had we heard Mikael right? She knew Van Helsing?

"Your partner's name is Gabrael Van Helsing?" I asked shakily.

"Yes," she replied.

There was silence for a long minute as I processed this news. Mikael had been murmuring the name Gabrael, and she had just said that that was Van Helsing's first name. When Van Helsing first came to us, he had muttered Mikael's name. Van Helsing's past was mysterious enough; how did Mikael fit into it? Exactly what kind of partners had they been?

Mikael's head slowly dropped forward, and her eyes fluttered. She was out of the trance. She groaned and shook her head slowly.

"Well, we have found out one thing for certain," I said.

"Oh? What is that?" she asked.

"You came here for a very definite purpose," I replied. "You were looking for your partner. I believe you should stay here. Perhaps you can find this person. You will stay here, either until you find your partner, or until your memory returns to you. Carl will take you back to your room."

I stared after Mikael as she left my office. I had thought that by hypnotizing her would could unlock her memory. I could answer all my questions about her, and we could send her home. Instead, the mesmerism had made her all the more mysterious. How had Mikael come to leave Transylvania? How old was she, really? What kind of work did she and Gabrael do? Who was her father, that his name inspired such fear and loathing? How did her past match up with Van Helsing's? What had their relationship been?

And most importantly of all… did Van Helsing remember her?

: Van Helsing's POV :

_I was alone in a forest. Fog shrouded the trees, obscuring any movement. I exhaled slowly; the steam from my breath left my mouth in a lazy ribbon. I tightened my grip on my gun, which was loaded with silver bullets, and looked around the circle of trees, my eyes darting to every opening._

_"Where are you," I muttered. "I know you're here somewhere, I can smell you."_

_I heard a low growl behind me. I smirked just a little bit and slowly turned around, slowly drawing another gun._

_"Right on time," I muttered._

_The werewolf was a small one, only about 8 feet or so. He bounded out of the trees, leaping for me. At the last possible moment, I dashed out of the way, playing cat and mouse with it, gradually leading it towards a certain tree. Each time, the werewolf got a little closer to catching me; each time I just barely managed to escape its grasp._

_I charged at the tree I'd been eyeing since this little game started. The werewolf followed me, intent on catching me. I dashed just behind the tree. Just as it got close-_

_It howled, falling into the pit that had been dug there previously. Suddenly, a cage plunged down to the ground from where it had been hidden up in the tree branches, trapping the werewolf in the pit._

_A figure lithely jumped out of the tree, landing on her feet. She stood, casually pushing her almost-black hair out of her gray eyes. I smiled as I handed her one of my guns._

_"Wasn't that supposed to be hard?" she asked, her voice laced with a Transylvanian accent, as she pulled out a sword._

_"Don't jinx it, we're not done yet," I replied._

_We stood on opposite sides of the cage, aiming our guns through the bars to the werewolf. Quickly, we fired our rounds off. The werewolf screamed in pain as the bullets, loaded with silver nitrate, penetrated its hide. It collapsed to the ground, dead._

_"And again… I thought it was supposed to be such a challenge," she commented as she sheathed her blade._

_"You don't find anything a challenge, do you?" I asked._

_"Nope," she grinned._

_"Well alright," I said, walking towards her. "How about next time, I'll sit up safe in the tree, and you let the werewolf chase you."_

_She smirked. "Deal. I could lead it to the trap faster than you."_

_I laughed. "Whatever you say, Mikael."_

I shot out of bed, panting slightly. I looked around to assure myself that I wasn't in a forest. No; I was in my room. I rubbed my face with my hands and took deep breaths, trying to calm down.

The only memories I really had came to me in these dreams. More often than not, I would dream about that girl. She was always there, right beside me, her gray eyes sparkling and a laugh on her lips as we fought whatever evil we were fighting. She was beautiful, wild, perfect… I had no idea who she was, or if she was still alive. But I kept her image in my head. Of all the mysteries of my past, the identity of that woman was most intriguing of all to me.

I glanced at my pocket watch; 5:25 am. I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to get anymore sleep. I dressed quickly, and walked out into the cool, pale dawn, running a hand through my hair.

Normally, when I had dreams like this, I would go for a walk through the Basilica. I'd usually end up in the gardens. Somehow, being out and walking among the hidden glades and in the labyrinth made me feel better.

My feet led me to a secluded courtyard. Around the perimeter were large pine trees. There were small flowering shrugs, and many types of flowers. There were a few benches nestled into the trees. I walked in and sat down, resting my forearms on my knees and trying to relax.

I found myself playing with the short swords at my waist. I unsheathed one, turning it over thoughfully in my hand. Usually, I didn't carry swords; I much preferred my guns. But today…

Slowly, I stood up, twirling the sword in my hand. I closed my eyes as a familiarity bubbled inside me. Pulling out the other sword, I began a complicated series of fight moves. I stopped thinking and let myself go. The movements came naturally to me, a type of muscle memory. Faster and faster I went, going through a beautiful, fluid series of movements. It was like performing a choreographed dance for two, but I was dancing alone.

Suddenly, swords clashed against my own.

I snapped my eyes open to see a girl with near-black hair pulled back in a ponytail, pale skin, and gray eyes. I stared at her; the girl from my dream…

Without stopping to wonder how long she had been watching, I went on. Her movements were perfectly attuned to my own. We didn't have to talk; we could communicate with each other through subtle shifts in energy and movement. It felt like this dance of swords and bodies had been choreographed especially for the two of us, that we had learned it long ago.

I finally came to the end of what my muscles remembered. I stood still, staring at the swords in my hands and wondering where the hell that had come from. I lowered my eyes to hers and saw the same questions swirling in her eyes that raced through my brain. I stood there, frozen by her icy gray gaze. It made me feel powerless and invincible at the same time.

I had the oddest feeling that I had felt this a million times before.

We whirled around when we heard clapping. The Cardinal stood there, smiling approvingly.

"Very good," he said, his eyes gleaming. "I have never seen anything like that before."

Slowly, we lowered our swords, still staring at each other, unable to rip our gazes away.

"Van Helsing, this is Mikael," he said. "Mikael, this is Van Helsing, the one who found you on the steps of the Basilica."

I stared at her, something in my head clicking. _Mikael_… This was the girl I'd been dreaming of this morning.

"You two are a natural pair. Natural warriors," the Cardinal beamed. "Mikael, there is something I have been meaning to ask you since I saw you in the armory. You have no memory of your life before you came to us, and you said that God had sent you to us. Would you join the Knights of the Holy Order?"

Mikael looked at the Cardinal, then at me, then at her swords.

"I have no memory of anything, except fighting," she said slowly, her voice exactly as I'd dreamt it. "I can't remember my last name, but I know exactly how to use any weapon I see, exactly how to react to whatever I'm facing."

The Cardinal nodded. "I do not think this is accidental. I believe you were sent here to help us."

"Maybe by helping you, I can regain my memory," she mused. Then she looked up. "All right. I'll join your Order."


	4. Chapter 4

: Mikael's POV :

Two years had passed since then. Van Helsing and I had been paired together as partners on all our missions. Everyone in the Order knew that we worked better together than we did alone.

It was very… odd, all that time I spent with Van Helsing. The more I got to know him, the more it seemed I remembered about him. Little traits of his would hit me between the eyes, and I would once again get that sensation that I had seen him exhibit that trait millions of times before. The more I learned, the more it seemed like I'd known about him.

And yet I still for the life of me could not remember how I had known him before our memories were lost. It was irritating, really. Clearly, he'd once been extremely important to me… but how?

I was awoken one October morning by Mother Agnes coming with my breakfast. Ever since I'd come here, she had taken a special interest in me; becoming almost like a mother.

"Wake up, lamb," she said, throwing open the heavy curtains to let the sunshine pour in. "The sun's been up for three hours, but I have yet to see your face."

I groaned, pulling the sheets over my head. "No, I can't get up," I moaned. "The second the Cardinal knows I'm up, he's send for me and yell at me for killing the Invisible Man!"

"Well, does want to see you," Mother Agnes confirmed, pulling off the covers.

I shivered; I was only in a large blousy shirt, which is what I usually wore to bed. I tried curling up in a ball and wrapping up in the covers, but Mother Agnes only ripped them off again.

"Oh all right, I'm up," I grumbled.

Mother Agnes smiled and placed a tray before me, piled high with oatmeal, toast, and black coffee. I ate quickly, then pulled on a pair of snug black trousers, boots, and a black vest to go over my blouse. I put on the choker and adjusted the ring on my left hand, then walked to the Cardinal's office, playing with the ring as I walked. It was my nervous habit.

I walked in to find Van Helsing already standing before the desk. They both looked up as I opened the door.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked as I walked in.

"I thought I told you not to kill the Invisible Man!" the Cardinal said in mock-indignation by way of greeting.

I shrugged as I walked up beside Van Helsing. "He decided to be difficult. Not my fault he was in range of the bullets."

The Cardinal just looked at me disapprovingly. Van Helsing looked down at me, an amused smirk on his face. I cracked a smile; I found the whole situation rather funny. Finally, the Cardinal sighed.

"Mikael, Mikael. Whatever am I going to do with you?" he asked despairingly.

I grinned impishly. "You're going to wash your hands of me, send me to Hell for a week, and send me off on another mission."

"Well, you're right about one thing," he said.

"I was only kidding about going to Hell," I said quickly.

The Cardinal shook his head. "You can go to Hell after you've come back from your next mission."

"Where're we going this time?" Van Helsing asked.

I sighed and shook my head. "Whatever happened to vacations?" I muttered, knowing the Cardinal would hear.

"I revoked them when you killed that last warlock," he said.

I put on my best "how could you be mad at me, I'm so adorable" face, and he softened up. I grinned; I could always win with him.

"You are going to Paris," the Cardinal said, turning to answer Van Helsing's question.

"Oh great," I muttered.

I'm not fond of the French. Not sure why. No offense if you're French.

"Monster, or mad scientist?" I asked.

"Mad scientist," the Cardinal answered. "Mr. Hyde, formerly known as Dr. Jeckyll."

"Wait, wait, let me guess," I sighed, putting up a hand. "He used to be a good guy. Then he started experimenting on himself late at night with toxic chemicals, and now he's just your friendly neighborhood psychopath."

"That about covers it," the Cardinal confirmed.

"Well, he shouldn't be too hard to kill, then," Van Helsing said as we made for the door. "We'll just grab some guns and be on our way."

"Not so fast," the Cardinal said.

We stopped, Van Helsing with his hand poised above the doorknob. We turned, eyebrows raised.

"We know to bring him back alive," I said.

"Now you can go," the Cardinal said.

Shaking his head, Van Helsing left the office, and I followed, pulling even with him as we walked through the hallways to the Chapel of the Virgin. I pulled on the wall sconce by the door. Instead of falling off, it revealed a secret passageway. We walked through the arch and down the stairs, into the factory for the Order. I loved it down here; I belonged in this world of metal and magic. All of the men and women down here loved Van Helsing and I; I was like their mischievious niece or something. Followers of about fifty different religions were running here, there and everywhere being miracle workers, as usual. I walked around, taking in their new inventions.

"Carl?" Van Helsing called.

"Carl! Where are you?" I asked.

"He's out in the courtyard, love," one of the senseis called.

"Thank you, Sensei Jubei," I called.

I turend on my heel and walked out, grabbing a newly-made pair of guns as I left. I couldn't resist taking presents with me whenever I left the factory.

"There you are," Van Helsing said to the tiny friar.

Carl looked up from what he was doing, which was packing weapons and food on our horses, Meu Dragoste my black gelding; the name's Romanian for _my love_, and Zoharel Van Helsing's black stallion; name's Hebrew for _light of God_.

"What've you got for us, Carl?" I asked, petting Meu Dragoste's nose.

"Well, nothing unusual," he said. "This is a man you're dealing with, after all. Albeit, he's about 500 pounds of muscle, and a deranged psychopath… but still. So it's just the usual. Lots of guns, daggers, and Mikael's swords."

"Ahhh, hello my friends," I said, fingering them lovingly before strapping them on.

Of all my weapons, my swords are my favorites. I always feel vulnerable when they're being sharpened or tended to.

Van Helsing gave me a leg up to get onto my horse, then quickly mounted his own.

"See you later, Carl," he said.

"Don't hurt the man too badly," Carl said.

I laughed. "Which one? Mr. Hyde, or Van Helsing?"

"Hey!" Van Helsing exclaimed.

"Either!" Carl called after us as we raced out of the courtyard.

Three Weeks Later

I walked down the streets of Paris late at night, Van Helsing by my side. I, like he, was dressed in all-black pants, boots, shirt, vest, long trench, gloves, and leather hat. Over the bottom of my face was a black bandanna. As we walked, I fingered the handles of two of the six guns that were strapped around my waist.

I looked over at Van Helsing, who was surveying the streets silently, his forest green eyes sweeping over the city. In the two weeks since we'd arrived, we had been hunting Mr. Hyde day and night, sleeping only when we had to. I was getting bored. I much prefer just going in, killing the evil guy, and going home.

Van Helsing ripped a WANTED poster off the wall and looked at it in disgust. I leaned over his shoulder and grinned.

"It's not a bad drawing," I whispered in his ear.

"Why aren't you ever on the wanted posters?" he muttered.

I grinned. "Coz I don't get seen. You do. I don't know how to tell you this, Van Helsing, but you kind of stick out in a crowd."

He stuck his tongue out at me, and we grinned at each other. We have very similar senses of humor. Actually, truth be told, we're a lot alike in just about everything we do.

I put a hand on Van Helsing's arm to stop him. We both heard a woman scream, and a man's laughter.

"Mr. Hyde," Van Helsing muttered.

"He's headed for Notre Dame," I breathed.

He glanced at me, but knew me too well to question if I was right. My night vision was superb, just like his hearing.

We took of in the direction of the cathedral; not running, but walking quickly. In the middle of the street was the body of a woman; one of the prostitutes in this neighborhood, she looked like. Her eyes were wide open, staring up blankly in horror. We squatted down by her body and crossed ourselves. I picked up a half-smoked cigar that lay by her body and showed it to Van Helsing. I shook my head; so we were facing a monster who probably had emphysema. Somehow, that information didn't make me feel any better.

We walked into the cathedral, and climbed up a rickety set of stairs. He opened the door to the dusty, cobweb-ridden bell tower. He, as per usual, made no secret of his presence. His heavy boots echoed loudly on the wooden floor. I followed close behind, the heels of my boots no less noisy. I looked around, peering into the darkness. I could smell Hyde sweat, cigar smoke, and saliva, but I couldn't see him.

No matter. He'd show up soon enough.

I looked up sharply as Mr. Hyde dropped down from the ceiling beams with a low growl. Van Helsing, inperturbable as ever, tipped his hat.

"Evening."

I smirked underneath my bandana; it was incredibly fun to hunt monsters with Van Helsing. He was so cocky and sure of himself. How could I ever be scared when he was being so damned funny?

"You're a big one," Hyde said, looking Van Helsing over. "You'll be hard to digest."

Van Helsing pulled his bandana down, revealing his darkly handsome features. I reminded myself not to stare. Plenty of time for that later.

"I'd hate to be such a nuisance," he said satirically.

"Oh well," Hyde said, his gaze shifting to me. "You'll go down easier, won't you love?"

I lowered my own bandana, looking at him darkly. "I wouldn't count on it."

"You look tender enough to me," Hyde said, moving as if to grab me.

I gave him a Look. Why are the bad guys always attracted to me?! Never the good guys, always the bad guys!!

Van Helsing gently pulled me back and stood before me. He's very protective of me, especially when there's a chance that I might be groped by an insane monster. It's one of his many good traits.

"I missed you in London," he said.

Hyde laughed. "You bloody did not," he said, lifting his arm to reveal a bullet hole in his right bicep. "You got me good."

"But not good enough, obviously," I said, "seeing as you're still alive, you worthless bag of skin."

Van Helsing threw me a Look before turning his attention back to a not-happy Hyde.

"Dr. Jeckyll, you're wanted by the Knights of the Holy Order-" he began the boring shpiel.

"It's Mr. Hyde now," Hyde interrupted.

Van Helsing continued on as if Hyde hadn't spoken. He's really good at ignoring people when he wants to be.

"For the murders of twelve men, six women, four-"

"Four children, three goats, and a rather nasty massacre of poultry," Hyde finished for him with a deranged cackle. "So you're the great Van Helsing."

"And you're a deranged psychopath," Van Helsing replied.

I smirked. Van Helsing's smartass mouth was going to get him in trouble one day. Oh wait… it already had. On multiple occasions. Never mind.

Hyde dropped down from the ceiling beams and stood before him. I wrinkled my nose when I saw the hair on his back. He blew a smoke ring into Van Helsing's face. I coughed from the smoke; I'm allergic to it. Just a random interesting fact about me.

"We all have our little problems," Hyde said.

He stuck the cigar in his mouth and chewed it up. I wrinkled my nose in distaste.

"And who might you be, love?" he asked.

I smirked. "I'm your worst nightmare. And when I'm done kicking your bloody ass, you'll be wishing that the only thing wrong with you was a hole in your arm."

Van Helsing glanced at me. He always got a little nervous when my kickass, smartass, badass side came out. Not for me or for himself; for the poor monster who was about to get his ass kicked from here to Transylvania.

"You know," he said in a conversational tone to Hyde, "my superiors would like for me to take you in alive so that they may extricate your better half."

Hyde, who had gone back to swinging on the ceiling beams as if they were monkey bars, dropped behind us and took Van Helsing's hat off. I raised my eyebrows, pursed my lips, and looked away; Hyde was a dead man. No one steals Van Helsing's hat and lives to tell the tale.

I turned to face him, placing my hands on my hips. I was getting impatient was was ready to get to the part where we started kicking ass.

"Personally, I'd rather just kill you and call it a day."

"But let's make it your decision, shall we?" Van Helsing finished smoothly.

"Hmm, do let's," Hyde said, stroking his chin mock-thoughtfully.

I tensed; I knew what that tone of voice meant. All bad guys are the same. So damn predictable…

WHACK

We were both knocked off our feet by the force of the blow. Van Helsing shot his guns at Hyde but unfortunately missed every time.

"So much for your legendary marksmanship," I mocked him, smirking.

Hyde jumped up and swung away on the ceiling beams, laughing manaically. What did he think he was, a great ape?

I lifted myself to my feet and adjusted my hat. "Why do they never do what we say? Do they think we won't kill them if they're difficult?"

Van Helsing grinned as he got to his feet. "They wouldn't be fun to kill if they did what we told them to," he pointed out, wiping the blood from his lip.

Our conversation was cut off as Hyde came swinging back. I idly wondered if Hyde's weight would cause the beams to buckle. That'd be bad. I mean, yeah, it'd kill Hyde… but it'd kill us too. That wouldn't be a good thing.

I shook my head to get myself focused again, and pulled out my short swords. Van Helsing pulled out two small mechanical discuses, like hand-held circular saws. I shook my head.

"What is it with you and mechanical toys?"

"They're more fun!" he grinned.

"How old are you?!"

"Here I come, ready or not!" Hyde called.

I shrugged. "I'm ready."

Van Helsing nodded. "Ready and waiting."

Hyde dropped down from the ceiling and ran for us. It's a wonder I wasn't knocked over, the floor vibrations were so great. It was like an earthquake.

Van Helsing and I dug our weapons into Hyde's sides. He grunted in pain as we crouched, ready for the next attack. He ran into a large bell, which resounded loudly. Hyde howled and clapped his hands over his ears.

"The bell. The bell!" he cried.

I cocked my eyebrow. "Oooh, it knows what a bell is. What else can it do?"

Hyde pulled the bell off the beam it had been hanging on and lifted it over his head. He dropped it on Van Helsing and me.

"I have an idea," Van Helsing whispered.

He cut a circle out of the boards with his saws, which I quickly ducked into. I hung onto the bell clapper, praying that the floorboards didn't collapse under my weight. The noise of the boards being cut was enough to alert Hyde. He picked the bell up over his head. Van Helsing, who had lodged himself inside the bell, grabbed his hat.

At the same time, I leaped out of the hole and cut Hyde's arm off, jumping back as it fell to the ground. Hyde and I looked at the arm; he in pain and misery, I in disgust. Then I back-cartwheeled out of the way before Hyde could grab me. I rolled over to Van Helsing, crouching by him.

"Now I bet that's upsetting," he said, nodding to Hyde.

We snickered. We really do have a good time when we're kicking ass together.

Hyde walked over to us and grabbed Van Helsing by his trench as I rolled out of the way. He threw Van Helsing out the glass skylight in the ceiling. I winced as the glass shattered; that had to have hurt.

"You're coming with me, love," Hyde leered.

Wonderful. I was gonna get groped by an insane monster. Again.

There are some parts of my job that I really don't enjoy.

Before I could do anything, he grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder as he jumped out to meet Van Helsing. I grabbed a dagger out of my boot and shoved it into Hyde's remaining arm. He howled, but didn't let me go.

"Put me down, you deranged psychopath!" I yelled, beating his hairy back.

"Sticks and stones, luv," Hyde said, gripping me tighter.

Van Helsing glared at Hyde for carting me around like a rag doll- or a whore- but he wasn't in much of a postion to do anything, as Hyde threw me to his other shoulder and picked Van Helsing up again.

"Ah, Paris!" Hyde said loudly. "I think you'll find the view over here to be rather spectacular."

I twisted around and stared. Hyde was dangling Van Helsing over the parapet.

"It's been a pleasure knowing you," Hyde said, spraying Van Helsing with saliva as he spoke. "Au revoir!"

He threw Van Helsing over the edge of the tower, then grabbed me and threw me after him. I smiled as I freefell; I loved this feeling. It was almost like flying.

Van Helsing grabbed me around the waist with one arm and fired a gun at Hyde. A wire shot out of the gun and flew through the air up to Hyde. I closed my eyes as I heard the wire pass through Hyde's body. The attatchment opened and latched onto Hyde's back. As we safely touched ground, I shifted so that I had a good grip on the gun.

Hyde grabbed the wire, his eyes going wide. "Oh no. No, no, no."

"On three," Van Helsing said in my ear, his warm breath tickling my cheek and neck. "One."

We tightened our grips on the gun. I moved back into his chest so we had better leverage.

Or something like that.

"Two."

We started to lean back, our muscles straining and preparing.

"Three!"

We jerked the gun back, pulling with all our combined strength. Hyde lost his balance and slipped a bit. Then he grabbed the wire. I looked over my shoulder at Van Helsing.

"Well… this isn't good."

"My turn!" Hyde called.

"Yeah, definitely not good," Van Helsing replied.

Hyde pulled on the wire and ran backwards. We shot up off the ground. Van Helsing wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me back into him, and I held onto the gun for all I was worth. The wire jerked, and I just saw Hyde fall off the other side of the tower. We were thrown to the roof. Van Helsing landed, catlike, on his feet, and stood quickly to catch me in his arms, bridal style. I sighed in relief as I relaxed in his arms; I loved how he was always there to catch me.

We heard a huge crash. Van Helsing set me down, and we watched as Hyde fell to the street below with the remains of the Rose Window, where he changed back into Dr. Jeckyll. I closed my eyes as I heard a sickening thud. We crossed ourselves, and Van Helsing muttered a prayer in Latin.

"So much for bringing him in alive," I sighed. "The Cardinal's going to kill us."

"For killing him?"

"For the window."

Van Helsing gave a short laugh, but it wasn't a true one. He stood on the balcony railing, looking down at the street gravely. I sighed as a constable yelled up to him.

"Van Helsing! You murderer!"

Van Helsing jumped down, looking somber and depressed. I put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him sympathetically.

"They wouldn't call you a murderer if they knew what you were doing," I said softly.

"If they knew what I was doing, that would mean that the Order had failed in its job," he replied.

He turned to face me, his eyes searching my face. I had no idea what he was looking for in the depths of my eyes; understanding, maybe? Whatever it was, he seemed to find it, because we stared into each others' eyes for an eternal moment.

A loud crash from nearby downstairs distracted us. We didn't have to go downstairs to know that the police were coming up.

"Shit shit shit shit shit," I muttered. "How are we getting down?"

Van Helsing pulled out a gun identical to the one we'd shot into Hyde. He fired it off into the night, then grinned as the attatchment buried itself in a wooden beam in a building across the street.

"It's a long way down," I commented.

He grinned. "Then you'd better hang on tight."

I wrapped my arms around him as he wrapped one arm around me, and with the other held a gliding device. With a good push, we were airborne, flying through the night air. We touched down on the streets and sprinted for our horses, knowing we needed to get back to Rome as quickly as possible.

Just another day on the job…

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I want to thank everybody who's reviewed me so far; feedback means a lot to me. And I'm really encouraged by everybody's interest in where the story is going. My computer situation this summer is uncertain, given that I'm not sure where I'll be for the months of July and the first part of August. So I don't know how often I'll be updating. I will try, though.


	5. Chapter 5

: Mikael's POV :

The trip back to Rome was hellish. We were persued by the police the entire time. When we left France, the police sent international detectives after us. They were determined to catch us and make us stand trial for our "crimes". It had gotten so bad that Van Helsing and I had made the decision to separate. He would take a more northern route to Italy, passing through Germany and Austria. I would head south and follow the southern French coastline into Italy. We would meet at the Basilica.

I didn't like this plan at all. I didn't like traveling without Van Helsing; I felt much less safe. And the detectives had kept well on my tail the entire time. After two weeks, I finally managed to lose them in Provence. After that, I traveled day and night, not minding the injuries I'd received due to traveling through rough terrain. I had to get back to Rome… to the Basilica… to Van Helsing…

I didn't remember reaching the Holy City. The next thing I remembered after entering Italy was waking up in my room in the Basilica to find Mother Agnes nursing me.

"Van Helsing!" I gasped, forcing myself to sit up. "Where is he, is he alright?!"

"Shh, quiet, lamb," Mother Agnes said. "Worry about Van Helsing later-"

"No!" I exclaimed. "I have to see him… I have to be sure…"

Mother Agnes gently pushed me back into the pillows, pulling the sheets over me.

"You haven't healed yet," she said. "You can see Van Helsing when you've both recovered from your trips."

With that, she left. I shook my head and flung the covers off. I couldn't wait. I had to see him, now. If my trip had been nightmarish, I could only imagine how his had been… I had to see him, had to know that he was alright…

I didn't understand why I was so desperate, why it was so vital for me to see him. But I didn't stop to analyze my feelings. I just followed them. I threw on a pair of pants and my boots and ran out the door, strapping my swords on as I ran.

My feet had a mind of their own, and led me down several hallways until I reached a large double door. I paused before the doors, wondering why my feet had led me here, but knowing somehow that I would find him here. I grabbed the brass door handle and opened the heavy doors.

It was a small chapel. I took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of incense. I walked down the aisle, feeling the oddest sense of déjà vu. I had never been here, never even known this chapel existed… and yet I knew that I had been here before, that once upon a time this had been a prearranged meeting place. I looked around the empty chapel, taking in the stained glass windows, the mosaics on the floor, the frescoes on the ceilings. As far as I could tell, this was the Chapel of the Archangels.

"Bringing swords into the House of God? Isn't that generally considered to be a bad idea?" asked a sly, teasing voice.

I whirled around and for a second just stared at Van Helsing. He was pale, there was a bandage around his head, and he was cut and bruised all over, but he was alive.

"Gabrael!" I shrieked before sprinting down the aisle.

He caught me in his arms and hugged me close. Before I knew what was happening, there were tears in my eyes, and his lips were on mine. Shock and alarms were going off in the corners of my head, but the rest of my brain shut off. My arms moved with a will of their own to wrap around his shoulders as his hand rested in the small of my back.

A perfect fit.

I didn't even realize what we were doing until I heard a clang and the door started to open. We both tensed and broke away from each other, staring at the door and trying to recover our breathing.

Mother Agnes walked through the door, a very highly irritated look on her face. She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at me.

"Are you satisfied that Van Helsing is in good health now?" she asked.

I nodded, not looking at him. Mother Agnes nodded.

"I thought I told you not to leave your bed?" she asked. "And you, Van Helsing! Your ribs are still broken, you aren't supposed to be up and about for another week yet! What am I going to do with you two?!"

When we both remained silent, she sighed and went on.

"But it's just as well that you're up, the Cardinal wants to see you."

"He knows about what happened in Paris, doesn't he?" I asked.

Mother Agnes nodded. "I'd pray, if I were you."

"Does he know about what happened on the trip back?" Van Helsing asked testily. "Does he know that Mikael and I were chased the entire time, that both of us were in great danger? Where was the Order then?"

"Calm yourself, Van Helsing," Mother Agnes said soothingly.

"No, I will not calm down!" Van Helsing said. "He's going to lecture us for killing Dr. Jeckyll, then expect us to go on another mission, and who cares how much danger we're in!"

"Gabrael," I said softly, laying a hand on his arm.

He took a deep breath at my touch and let it out slowly, looking away as he calmed down.

Mother Agnes went on, much too used to Van Helsing's temper to mind his outburst. "The Cardinal is looking into what happened, because you should not have been left on your own like that. You should not have been in that much danger. You should not have been left on your own as you were."

Van Helsing nodded. "I'm sorry."

Mother Agnes nodded. "Now come. He does want to speak with you both."

We nodded. Van Helsing told her that we would be at Headquarters in a minute. Mother Agnes nodded in acceptance and left us alone.

We turned to look at each other, neither of us understanding what had just happened between us. For a moment we just looked at each other…

And then we attacked each other.

His lips were pressed to mine in a hungry, passionate kiss. One arm had wrapped around my waist, and his other hand cupped my face. My arms were around his neck, my fingers tangling in his hair. He moaned softly as I pressed against him, holding me as close as he could.

I didn't know what we were doing. I didn't care. All I knew was that all of a sudden, I was home.

"Gabrael," I whispered as he bent his head to kiss my neck.

"Mikael, my Mikael," he murmured into my ear before claiming my lips again.

Suddenly, we broke away from each other, panting. We stared at each other, no clue what had just happened or how everything had changed.

Gabrael- for that was how I'd always think of him from now on- swallowed hard. "I'll go to see the Cardinal in the church. I'll take the fall for the Rose Window. You meet us down in Headquarters?"

I nodded. Gabrael nodded once and headed for the door.

"Gabrael?" I called out suddenly.

He turned to look at me, his dark green eyes locking with my gray ones.

"I don't know," he said softly, looking at me a moment more before leaving.

I sank into a pew after he left, shaking. I had never felt anything like that before. Now granted, I still didn't remember anything that had happened to me before two years ago. But I felt deep within me that what had just happened was very real, and very old… that if anyone could help me uncover the mysteries of my past, it was Gabrael Van Helsing.


	6. Chapter 6

: Mikael's POV :

When I'd composed myself somewhat, I walked down into Headquarters. I looked around at the hustle and bustle in pleasure, furiously trying to keep my mind occupied with thoughts of something other than Gabrael. There were so many new weapons, so many new inventions; I couldn't wait to get my hands on them and try them out.

Gabrael and the Cardinal were on the stairs, so I made my way over to them, trying my hardest not to stare at Gabrael and rub my lips. The Cardinal had started his shpiel about the Order. I rolled my eyes; this speech was starting to get old. Both Gabrael and I knew this speech by heart by now.

"Without us, the world would be in darkness," he said importantly. "Governments and empires come and go, but we… we have kept mankind safe since time immemorial. We are the last defense against evil. An evil that the rest of mankind has no idea even exists."

Gabrael sighed. "To you, these- these 'monsters' are just evil beings to be vanquished. I'm the one left standing there when they die and become the men they once were."

I glanced at him sympathetically- might as well, since he attracted my eye like filings to a magnet- but he avoided my gaze. I knew how hard this job was for him, how he struggled to find the meaning behind our labors.

Personally, I didn't understand his scruples. I didn't think God played too much a role in our work, other than to give us his blessings and have his holy people protect us. It was enough for me to go where the Cardinal told me to and kill what he asked me to. If at times I wondered why I was so drawn to this work, I told myself it was because it was only when I held a weapon that I felt I knew myself. That self-knowledge was motivation enough for me; I'd leave it to Gabrael to struggle with his conscience.

"For you, this is all a test of faith," the Cardinal said cryptically, looking at us. "And now we need you to go to the east, to the far side of Romania. An accursed land terrorized by all sorts of nightmarish creatures, lorded over by a certain Count Dracula."

I frowned as a faint recognition bubbled in the outer corners of my mind. I knew that name. It was comforting, familiar… and yet a name filled with dread, terror, and lonliness.

"Dracula?" Gabrael asked.

"Yes," the Cardinal said, starting up a slide show. "You've never faced one like this before."

_Oh yes we have._

I shook my head; where had _that_ come from?

"Our story begins 450 years ago, when a Transylvanian knight named Valerious the Elder promised God that his family would neither rest nor enter heaven until they vanquished Dracula from their line." He sighed heavily, leaning against a table. "They have not succeeded. And they are running out of family. His descendant Voris Valerious, King of the Gypsies," he continued as the slideshow turned to show a picture of the king. "He disappeared almost twelve months ago. His only son, Prince Velkan. And his daughter, Princess Anna."

Gabrael and I stared in shock at the slide of the princess. It was almost like looking at myself in the mirror.

Anna had the same dark hair, the same shape of eyes, the same overall facial structure. There were slight differences, but Anna could almost pass as my twin. Gabrael glanced at me when he thought I wasn't looking, then diverted his eyes back to the slide.

"Is there something you should tell us?" he asked.

"What, that I'm a Valerious? A Gypsy princess? No, I don't think so," I replied.

Though, how could I be sure, with my memory the way it was?

…_child of the Valerious, child of the demon prince…_

I frowned; again, where had _that_ come from? Why was my mind suddenly conjuring up these obscure wisps of memory? And why did everything I knew suddenly feel more fuzzy than it had even fifteen minutes ago, when Gabrael and I…

_No_, I told myself firmly. _You are __**not**__ going down that thought path right now. Focus. Focus on your job._

"If the two of them are killed before Dracula's vanquished," the Cardinal said, "nine generations of their family will never enter the gates of St. Peter. For more than four centuries this family has defended our left flank. They gave their lives. We cannot let them slip into purgatory."

"So you're sending us into hell," Gabrael said, still staring at Anna's picture.

The Cardinal clapped him on the shoulder. "In a manner."

I folded my arms. "Nice of you."

"Consider it your penance for the shattering of the Rose Window," the Cardinal said.

Gabrael and I exchanged glances and sighed heavily. We held the gaze for a moment, unable to look away. In that moment, my chest ached with a heaviness that seemed eons old, some dimension of myself that remained unfulfilled as long as I was out of Gabrael's arms. Utterly ridiculous… but I found that I had lost myself to that ache, to my confusion, and to him.

It was only when the Cardinal called our names that I remembered where I was, and that I had just ordered myself not to moon after Gabrael like some addlepated schoolgirl. We had a job to do. We were partners, nothing more. I had to remain professional. Well, as professional as I ever got, that is.

Granted, it hadn't been very professional to kiss him… _No_, I told myself. _You were just relieved that he was safe. That's all. It won't happen again._

We walked to join him at a long lab table. The Cardinal handed Gabrael a silver tube, which opened to reveal what looked like the corner of a scroll or painting, on which Latin was painted.

"Valerious the Elder left this here 400 years ago," the Cardinal said. "We don't know its purpose. But he would not have left it lightly. The Latin inscription translates as, 'in the name of God, open this door'. There is an insignia," he said as Gabrael rolled the parchment out all the way.

He and I both froze as we saw the detail of a winged dragon. Gabrael stared at the ring on his right hand, and I pushed up my sleeve to look at the brand on my right forearm (of course, I have no idea how I got it).

"Yes," the Cardinal said. "It matches your ring, Van Helsing. And Mikael's tattoo. I think that in Transylvania you may find the answers you seek."

As we walked over to where we knew Carl would be, I chanced a look at Gabrael, finding him deep in thought. I wondered what he was thinking about- was he still wrestling with his thoughts on his mission and calling? Secretely, in that traitorous part of my brain that refused to be squelched entirely, I hoped he was thinking of me. But at the same time, I was terrified that he might be thinking about me. Oh God, what he had to think of me, throwing myself at him like that…

I jumped as a small explosion went off, mercifully ripping me out of my thoughts, then shook my head, sighing. How did Carl's experiments always manage to end with something exploding?

"Well, did you bring Mr. Hyde back, or did you kill him?" Carl asked, walking up to us.

Gabrael wasn't paying any attention; he was still lost in the labyrinth of his head. I looked up and grinned guiltily.

"You killed him, didn't you?" he asked, a long-suffering face on. I nodded, grinning. He sighed, annoyed. "That's why they get so annoyed! When they ask you to bring someone back, they don't mean as a corpse," he lectured.

I gave him a Look, memories of the hellacious trip home flooding my mind. Carl looked over at Gabrael, who still looked pensive. I sighed; I hated it when he was in a mood like this. He got snappy and unresponsive when he was thinking too hard.

"Oh, all right," he said grumpily. "You're in a mood. Well, come on."

I stopped dead in my tracks as we passed Father Justin's forge. My eyes glittered as I looked at all the beautiful swords.

"Oh, any idiot can make a sword," Carl said dismissively.

"Hey!" Father Justin exclaimed, holding up a red-hot sword just out of the fire.

"Oh. Sorry, Father," Carl said before Gabrael laughingly steered him away.

"I want," I said like a little girl, pointing.

"I know," Father Justin said. "That's why I made you this."

He handed me an absolutely gorgeous sword- double-edged, three feet long, onyx intaglio laid into the silver hilt. I squealed as I tried it out.

"Mikael!" Gabrael called.

I jumped at the sound of his voice, then sighed at my reaction to his voice. "My slave driver calls. Thank you, Father."

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the boys, buckling my new sword around my waist. Gabrael paid no attention to me at all, which I found I was rather thankful for (I refused to be disappointed that he wasn't paying attention, I absolutely and unconditionally refused).

"Here, take this," Carl said, shoving a large leather bag at Gabrael and dumping in supplies as he listed them off. "Rings of garlic, holy water, silver stake, crucifix."

He tripped over the foot of the table and bumped a gatling gun that rested nearby. Gabrael grinned in pleasure as it went off.

"Ooh, why can't I have one of those?" he asked, sounding like a little boy at Christmas time.

I smirked. "Simple things for simple minds."

He turned and gave me a Look before turning back to Carl, who was shaking his head.

"You've never gone after vampyres before, have you?" he asked.

"Vampyres, gargoyles, warlocks, they're all the same," Gabrael responded airily. "Best when cooked well."

"No, no, no, they're not all the same," I insisted. "A vampyre is nothing like a warlock."

"My granny could kill a warlock," Carl said derisively.

Gabrael and I laughed at the indignant little friar.

"You've never even been out of the abbey," Gabrael pointed out. "How do you know about Vampyres?"

"I read," Carl replied. "Here's something new," he said, getting a drop of some clear gooey stuff from a drip. "Glycerin 48."

He flung the drop on the ground, and it exploded with a cloud of smoke and sparks.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he called to the muttering holy men and women. "The air around here is thick with envy," he said conspiratorially.

Gabrael and I exchanged amused (but carefully impersonal) glances; modesty was a foreign concept to Carl. And of course, it was hilarious to think of anyone envying him when his magnifying glasses were down over his eyes, making him look like a bug. Or a college professor.

"Ah," he said, crossing to another table.

He picked up an automatic crossbow and aimed it at us. Gabrael sighed and moved it away from us. I mouthed a thank you; I had no desire to die by arrows. And with Carl handling the crossbow, there was a very good chance that arrows would go flying.

"This is my latest invention," he said enthusiastically.

"Now this I like!" Gabrael said happily.

"It's gas propelled, capable of catapaulting bolts in rapid succession at tremendous velocity," Carl said. "Just pull the trigger and hold on. I've heard the stories coming out of Transylvania, trust me, you'll need this."

Gabrael took it and held it up, trying it on for size. I shook my head and smiled fondly; he looked like he'd just found his new favorite toy. So adorable…

_No. Stop it. Don't do this to yourself. Focus on the goddamned mission, Mikael. _

"A work of certifiable genius," Carl said proudly.

"If you don't say so yourself," I said.

"No, I do say so myself," Carl said. "I'm a veritable cornucopia of talent."

I laughed. Like I said, no modesty.

"Did you invent this?" Gabrael asked, holding up a container of some weird green liquid.

He started tossing it around, much to the horror of the friar. And since Gabrael is at least six inches taller than Carl, poor Carl had no chance of getting it back until Gabrael handed it to him.

"I've been working on that for twelve years," Carl said. "It's compressed magma from Mount Vesuvious with pure alkaline from the Gobi Desert. One of a kind."

"What's it for?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know, but I'm sure it'll come in handy," Carl said, tenderly packing it into a wooden box.

"Twelve years and you don't know what it does?" Gabrael asked teasingly.

"I didn't say that," Carl said. "I said I didn't know what it was _for_. What it _does_ is to create a light source equal to the intensity of the sun."

"This'll come in handy… how?" Gabrael asked cluelessly.

"Oh, I don't know," Carl said blithely. "You could blind your enemies, charbroil a herd of charching wildebeest… use your imagination."

"I'm not, Carl. I'm gonna use yours. That's why you're coming with us," Gabrael said.

"The hell be damned I am," Carl said.

Gabrael looked shocked, which was almost as funny as Carl's horrendous swearing.

"You cursed," he said. "Not very well, mind you. But you're a monk. You shouldn't curse at all."

"Actually, I'm still just a friar," Carl replied. "I can curse all I want. Damnit."

I had to suppress a laugh at his obvious enthusiasm. Gabrael shook his head before tossing the bag of supplies at Carl.

"The Cardinal has ordered you to keep us alive. For as long as possible."

Carl and I stared at each other for a split second before running after him.

"But I'm not a field man!" Carl protested.

"I fully second that," I said.

"Van Helsing!" Carl called. "I don't want to go to Transylvania!"

Transylvania. The name sent a shiver of expectation up my spine. Transylvania was my home, or at least had been once upon a time. Maybe once I got there, the keys to my memory would be unlocked. Maybe I would learn all the secrets of my past, and the ramblings of my annoying inner voice would be explained.

Or maybe I'd just learn my last name. It was a start.


	7. Chapter 7

: Mikael's POV :

: Mikael's POV :

The voyage from Rome to the Romanian coast took us two months due to bad winds and choppy seas. Two very… looooong… months, on a ship that seemed far too large for me to be alone in, but too impossibly small to be around Gabrael in. It was an uncomfortable journey, trying to avoid both him and myself. We finally arranged a nonspoken agreement between us, which basically amounted to, "If we don't talk about it, we're both fine with pretending that the kiss never happened."

In order to distract myself from my thoughts, I threw myself into the mission. I read every single dossier, document, and book that Carl had brought with him- and Carl had brought an awful lot. I read biographies on Dracula, Romanian history, treatises on vampyre. Anything, just to keep my mind off of Gabrael.

As we got closer and closer to Transylvania, I started having more and more dreams and vague flashes of memory- about the life I had left behind, perhaps? I found to my delight that I understood Romanian, so I became our interpreter as we traveled further inland. The landscape was vaguely familiar, but not so familiar that I knew I was home. Oddly enough, the closer we got to the town where Dracula was wreaking havoc, the more at home I felt.

One night, Gabrael led us into a seedy little inn on the fringes of a poor village. I glanced at him as we walked in. We hadn't really spoken much since we'd kissed, despite the confines of the ship, and later the journey inland on horseback. We each seemed lost in our own thoughts much of the time, each trying to make sense of things. But I was always acutely aware of his presence. Just his entering the room made my nerve endings tingle with anticipation. Which inevitably led to me getting irritated with myself, and isolating myself even further. It wasn't really conducive to our partnership, but it was really really good for my mental sanity.

I glanced around the inn, noticing a huddle of people in a side room. It looked like some sort of meeting was going on. Leaving Gabrael to talk to the tavern owner to procure us some rooms, I crept forward to listen.

"Two more have been killed in the past month," a man said. "The vampyre are getting out of control."

"It's the Brides," another man said. "They're angry."

I furrowed my brow; the Cardinal had mentioned nothing about multiple vampyre.

"They say Dracula is getting anxious," a woman said. "My sister lives in Valeria, and she says that Dracula has been heard yelling at the moon, calling for his Princess."

A shudder and a dark murmur ran through the crowd as people blessed themselves fervently with the sign of the cross. A chill ran up my spine. No one had told me anything about a vampyre princess. Why did Dracula want her?

"And you know how the Brides hate the Princess," a woman said.

"Well, of course," said yet another man. "The Princess was always first in Dracula's heart, after the Lady Elspeth died. Even after he made his three Brides, his Princess was always dearest to him."

I walked back to Gabrael, deep in thought. He looked up, mildly irritated, when I came near and pulled me over to the counter.

"There you are," he said. "Can you get us rooms? She doesn't speak any English… are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I said absently, not really caring that he obviously didn't believe me.

I quickly negotiated a room for us, then led Gabrael and Carl inside. I locked the door and turned around, playing with a lock of my hair as I watched Carl bustle around unpacking his books and Gabrael walking around securing the room.

"Have either of you heard anything about Dracula having a princess?" I asked. "I didn't read anything about it in any of the material we brought with us, but I just heard people down in the bar talking about her."

Carl looked up from his satchel. "Dracula and his wife had one daughter when he was alive, and she ruled Transylvania after he was turned. Why?"

I shrugged. "Apparently Dracula's been searching for her. I was just wondering if it's something we should be worried about, especially if there's a risk she might help him kill Prince Velkan and Princess Anna."

"You don't know that Dracula's daughter and this vampyre princess are the same person," Gabrael pointed out.

Carl scratched his head. "The legend goes that when Dracula became a vampyre, he tried to turn his daughter as well, so that he wouldn't lose her as he lost his wife. But though he bit her and turned her immortal, she couldn't become a vampyre. No one knows why. It's said that if she returns to Dracula on Halloween, the night of her birth and the night that Dracula bit her, he will be able to turn her. He must be looking for her."

"Why? Why now?" I asked. "What's so special about her?"

"Her mother was a gypsy princess," Carl said. "He probably wants her gypsy magic; they say the Princess was put under the gypsies' protection, and that in return she swore to defend Transylvania forever. And the legend goes that this princess is the daughter of light and dark, good and evil. That, if she's bitten, she will become the most powerful vampyre in the world. Indestructible until she revokes her power. Besides, she's Dracula's only child. Why wouldn't he want her back?"

"So should we be worrying about her coming back?" I asked.

"I say we don't think about it," Gabrael said. "If she comes, she comes, and we kill her. If not… then by the time she gets here, Dracula will be dead, and there'll be nothing she can do."

I nodded absently, lying down on one of the creaky, sagging beds. Carl got into the other bed, and Gabrael hesitantly lay down next to me. I closed my eyes in preparation for sleep, but found myself completely unable to shut off my mind. Not even bothering to try to pretend to sleep, I stood, grabbed my trench coat, and walked out into the moonlight, lost in thought.

Some inner, sixth sense was telling me not to listen to Carl and Gabrael's rationale. The fact that the natives were worried about the return of the vampyre gypsy princess was enough to make me wary. Something deep inside of me told me that her return was something I had to be afraid of. That meeting this princess would not be good for me.

The story of this vampyre princess was familiar to me, on a primal, unconscious level. I felt like I had been told this story, long long ago, as a kind of macabre bedtime story. But I couldn't remember where I might have heard it.

_Valeria_

The name kept running through my mind, weaving in and out of my other thoughts. I knew it was the name of the village where we were headed, Dracula's stronghold. It was a familiar name, a name that sounded like home.

I stiffened suddenly; I felt watched. I have a very acute sense for knowing when I'm being watched. I turned around quickly, scanning the area where I'd felt the eyes. I stared. A normal human wouldn't have been able to see anything… but I wasn't exactly normal. I saw a pair of gray eyes… eyes that looked just like my own.

Then I heard a voice in my head. A voice that wasn't my own. A voice that I had known once, had once loved, a comforting, familiar voice that I just couldn't place.

_Mikael. My Mikael. You have returned. Welcome back, my Mikael. Welcome home. I knew that you would return someday, my dear._

_My… my dear? Who are you?_

_You will know soon enough._

_Who are you?_

_You're not ready to know now. I will see you soon, my Mikael. For now, return to the inn._

I turned around and quickly walked into the inn, almost as if I were being pushed inside and my legs were working independently of my will. I walked to my room as quickly as silence would allow, and lay on the bed. I pulled the covers about me and huddled down, but still felt cold. Sighing resignedly, I turned to face Gabrael, slowly laying my head on his shoulder and cuddling into his warmth. My eyes closed as his arms wrapped around me, even in his sleep. Finally feeling safe and warm, I drifted off to sleep, my many questions chasing each other through my head.


	8. Chapter 8

:Mikael's POV:

**Author's Note:** Hey there and welcome to chapter 8, aka The Big Painful Fight Chapter That Gave Me Massive Headaches All The Way Through The Writing Of It! Haha, I won't go into detail about it, but there was a lot of aspirin and swearing involved. Since this scene is one of the really big action sequences in the movie, hopefully you'll find it engaging.

Thank you SO much to all the wonderful users who've left me reviews (special mention once again to Dr.Lust for the continued support). The constant feedback is really helping me with this story, especially last-minute editing and additions. I really, really appreciate it.

On with the chapter!!

:Mikael's POV:

When I awoke the next morning, the first thing I decided was that I wasn't going to share my experience with either Carl or Gabrael. Especially not Gabrael. He'd be angry that I was out at night without protection, that I had run into something odd… and then he'd be worried that I was in danger. No, I would keep this to myself. At least until I had figured out what it all meant.

We rode into Valeria on horseback several hours later. The town was cold and unfriendly, the fear and tension so thick in the air that I felt I was suffocating. As I had anticipated, we were the center of the townsfolk's attention. Gabrael and I pulled our hats further down over our faces. Well, after all, he was the most wanted man in Europe, and I looked more than slightly vampyric.

"So what _do_ you remember?" Carl asked as we walked through town, continuing a conversation we'd had earlier.

"Not now, Carl," Gabrael said wearily, glancing at me for help.

I shrugged. There's nothing you can do to divert Carl, once he's gotten started. Gabrael knew that as well as I did.

"But there must be something," Carl pressed.

Gabrael sighed. "I remember fighting the Romans at Masada."

I closed my eyes. If I concentrated, I could just see glimpses of flashing swords, bright armor, terrified but resolved Jews, Romans swarming the fortress, Gabrael screaming a war cry and charging them. I opened my eyes, shaking my head; it was like a memory from a dream, something ethereal on the fringes of my memory that I couldn't quite hold on to.

Carl stared. "That was in 73 AD."

Gabrael shrugged. "You asked."

The townspeople watched us distrustfully as we walked towards the town square. I made sure to keep my mouth shut. The last thing I wanted or needed was a stake through my heart. Not that I thought Gabrael would let them do it… but still.

"What are we doing here?" Carl asked. "Why is it so important to kill this Dracula anyway?"

"Because he's the son of the devil," I replied.

"I mean besides that," Carl said.

"Because if we kill him, anything bitten by him or created by him will also die," Gabrael said.

"I mean besides _that_," Carl said.

From behind us came a cold, unfriendly voice. "Welcome to Transylvania."

We stopped in our tracks. I rolled my eyes, sighing; nice to know that the townspeople were going to be difficult. Because, you know, that always makes everything so much easier. Gabrael closed his eyes, also sighing. We all turned to face the odd man in the top hat, and Gabrael dropped his bag. A faint smirk crossed my lips as I fingered the swords strapped around my waist; there's always trouble when he drops that bag.

Then I sighed to myself in relief; now it felt like we were getting back to normal. Back to the way things should be between us, where we're partners and best friends, and not thrown off by far too passionate kisses.

"Is it always like this?" Carl asked timidly.

"Pretty much," Gabrael shrugged.

From behind us came a cool female voice. The voice of someone who was used to giving orders, and being obeyed.

"You. Turn around."

We turned again, slowly. I stifled a gasp when I found myself to be looking into the face of a woman who was almost my mirror image. Anna Valerious.

"Let me see your faces," she said.

"Why?" Gabrael asked.

"Because we don't trust strangers," Anna said.

"Strangers don't last long here," the man with the top hat said.

"Well, I don't trust anybody," I said, my voice only a step away from snarling.

Anna stared at me, taking in my attire and accent, before her gaze rested on my canines. She seemed to lose a bit of her cool, and I relaxed a little. Good to see that she, too, feared vampyre… maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.

Actually, if she feared vampyre, there was a wooden stake in my future, most likely… unless I could convince her otherwise.

…

I was screwed.

"Lady and gentlemen, you will now be disarmed," Anna said.

Gabrael reached for his gun. I just folded my arms and shook my head slowly. I felt confident, in control. Very much like a ruler who has returned home after a long absence. I wouldn't take any order of Anna's; she couldn't touch me. This was my village, my home, much more than it would ever be hers. I was home, and I was in control.

"You can try," I said.

Anna cocked an eyebrow. "You refuse to obey our laws?"

Gabrael shrugged. "The laws of men mean little to me."

"Fine," Anna said. "Kill them."

The crowd started pressing in, clutching whatever weapon-like objects they held in their hands. I fingered my swords but didn't move… yet.

"I'm here to help you," Gabrael said, stepping forward.

"I don't need any help," Anna said.

I peered over her shoulder and gently nudged Gabrael. We had company.

"Oh really," he said, pulling out his crossbow.

I indulged in an impish grin, pulling out a gun that Carl had made for me. It shot out holy water, like a water gun. A Really. Big. Water gun. Must remember to thank Gabrael for commissioning it for me… The vampyre brides flew into the square, shrieking.

"Everybody inside!" Anna yelled.

Gabrael and I started shooting, but the brides were agile. Oh, good. Now they'd be even more fun to kill. I love a challenge. Screw being careful; the Order didn't send me on missions to be careful. They send me to kill things, and that was what I was gonna do.

One of the brides turned and saw me, then sneered and started coming after me. Now, normally I don't have a problem with vampyre. Other than the fact that I have to kill them, I usually like them. But I had an instinctual hatred for these brides. I knew without questioning that we had met before, and that we hated each other with a passion unequal to any other. So I would feel no regret whatsoever when I killed them.

"Carl!" I yelled, running. "The gun is jammed! Not shooting! Bad, very bad!"

"Toss it here," Carl yelled.

I did so, ducking as the bride swooped down to get me. She grabbed the townsman behind me and flew up into the air with him. I winced as she bit him and quickly drained him of his blood; now that had been totally and completely uncalled for.

The sun came out, and the brides disappeared. I back-cartwheeled myself into the shadows before I thought about it. It was a habit; I have no great love for sunlight. It hurts me to be in it for too long. I ignored Anna, who was staring at me, and looked over at Gabrael, who was breathing heavily, his crossbow still aimed. He looked at me and shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"The sun isn't that strong, Mikael," he called.

The few townspeople who were outside stared at me, muttering. I rolled my eyes at them and tentatively stepped into the sun. I winced as the sunlight filled my eyes and pulled my hat further down to shield my face, but otherwise was fine.

I froze suddenly, all of my senses focused on the well. They were down there, I could tell. I knelt and grabbed a couple of stakes, as Carl was still fiddling with my gun, then walked towards the well. Gabrael, catching on quickly, nodded and followed my lead. When Anna figured out what we were doing, she picked up a scythe and met us at the well. We all looked down quickly. My eyes narrowed as I saw the brides in the shadows with my superhuman vision.

"Hello," I whispered.

"Um… Mikael… Van Helsing…" Carl whimpered.

I looked up; the sun was gone.

Oh perfect.

The brides flew out of the well and knocked Gabrael and I off our feet. One of them grabbed Anna and flew off with her. I grabbed my newly-repaired water gun from Carl and shot a stream of water at the bride's wing. She shrieked in misery as some of it hit. Well, she wouldn't be flying for a while. Anna pulled a small dagger out of her boot and cut the bride's foot. The vampyre shrieked again and flung Anna away.

Anna rolled down the roof and hung off the ledge before jumping, catlike, into a nearby tree and falling to the ground, moaning quietly in pain as she landed on her feet. She ran into the house she'd just rolled down the roof of. I rolled my eyes and followed her; there was a bride in there, she'd need protection. Anna locked the doors, jumping as she turned to see me standing there.

"Locking doors… not a smart move, Anna," I said, smirking as she glared at me.

"Hello, Anna," purred a kittenish voice from behind us.

"And that would be why."

I turned slowly; yep, I recognized her. I searched my black void of a memory for her name.

Aleera.

I shuddered as a white-hot anger and hatred flared within me. Oh how I wanted to kill her…

"Nice to see you too, Aleera," Anna said, backing up.

"Don't lie, Anna." The words came out of my mouth before I knew what was going on. "If there's one thing I'm not happy about, it's seeing Aleera and the other two whores again."

…_where in the holy name of all that is holy did __**that**__ come from?_

"And just who is your friend?" Aleera asked, anger peeking out behind the sweetness.

I took off my hat, shaking my curls out of my face and feeling strangely at ease. Aleera gasped, shocked.

"Princess Mikael," she breathed, the "princess" sounding more like an insult than a title of respect.

"Hello, Aleera," I said blandly. "How are Verona and Marishka, the other two sluts who have the audacity to call themselves brides?"

"You remember," she said.

I hesitated. "No… no, not really," I said uncertainly.

Aleera gazed at me, a calculating look in her purple eyes. "The Master told us you had returned. He will be overjoyed when I tell him that you have led me to Anna Valerious. This is just the first step in reclaiming your destiny, Princess. In becoming who you were born to be."

I swallowed hard, _really_ not liking the way this conversation was going.

Anna stared at us in shock for a moment before discovering her voice. "Did I do something to you in a past life?"

"Don't play coy with me, Princess," Aleera said.

Anna turned and made for the door. But when she'd unlocked and opened it, Aleera stood there smiling.

"I know what lurks in your lusting heart."

"I hope you have a heart, Aleera," Anna said, backing away. "Because someday I'm going to drive a stake through it."

Aleera slapped Anna, sending her through the window with little effort, before turning back to me.

"We will meet again, Mikael," she sneered. "And it will be when you are at the Master's side once more."

"No, the next time I see you, I'll be driving a stake through your heart," I snarled.

Aleera laughed and disappeared. I ran out of the house as Anna ran into another shack nearby. I sighed and followed her. Since when was I her bodyguard? Then again, if she insisted on trapping herself in enclosed spaces, maybe she needed a bodyguard. We looked at each other warily as I shut the door; we could hear Gabrael having a grand old time trying to shoot Marishka.

"So, we've met Aleera… Gabrael's trying to kill Marishka… I give it three seconds before we run into Verona," I said conversationally.

Anna didn't respond; she was too busy staring at me as if I were going to attack her at any moment. Shaking my head, I turned… only to see Aleera holding a goblet of blood that had come from a fresh kill.

"Thirty years old. Perfectly aged," she said, sipping the blood.

I bit my lip, trying not to smell the blood. Come to think of it, maybe it's not so strange that people mistake me for a vampyre, what with the teeth and the hating sunlight and the reaction I have to blood...

Anna whirled around and opened the door to reveal the third bride. I groaned.

"Hello Anna, my dear," she said, walking in.

"Verona," I said curly. "Honestly, are you three incapable of going anywhere without the other two?"

She stared at me. "Princess Mikael?"

I smirked. "In the flesh."

Anna stared at me before grabbing a stake. I whirled out of the way, in case she was aiming that thing at me. Verona grabbed Anna's arm, stopping her from plunging the stake into Aleera's heart. They put Anna into a trance and moved in for the kill. I grabbed a stake, but before I could use it there was a shriek outside. Aleera and Verona shrieked, turned into their hellbeast form and flew away. Figuring Anna was safe enough where she was, still stupid from trance, I ran outside just in time to see Marishka turn to ash.

"Well… that's one down, three to go," I sighed.

I walked over to Gabrael and handed him his hat. I collapsed next to him on the steps of the church; he had a nasty gash on his forehead. I reached up to it, but he slapped my hand away.

"Don't touch me with those icicles you call fingers," he pouted.

"Oh, stop being such a baby," I muttered, though I was relieved our banter had returned, as if it had never been missing.

I ran a finger over the wound, and with a puff of cold air it scabbed over. Yeah, not sure how I do that, but it's come in handy. Gabrael then gave me his hands, which were red and cramped. I massaged them after pulling on gloves.

He sighed in relief. "No one does this better than you."

I grinned. "Thank you. Now no more flattery, it sounds too odd coming out of your mouth."

I tuned in to the townspeople, who were pointing at us angrily and yelling. I hate it when townsfolk yell.

"He killed a bride! Marishka, he killed Marishka!"

"But isn't that a good thing?" Carl asked, bewhildered.

"Vampyres only kill what they need to survive, one or two people a month," Top Hat Man said. "Now they'll kill for revenge."

Carl glanced back at Gabrael and me. "Are you always this popular?"

I shrugged. "Pretty much."

"So what name, my good sir, do I carve on your gravestone?" Top Hat Man asked.

"His name," Anna said while passing through the crowd, "is Van Helsing."

The townspeople muttered amongst themselves, staring at us with renewed interest. I sighed and ducked my head; no need to have people pressing me for a name. Especially since I had no last name to give.

"Your reputation preceeds you," she said, sizing Gabrael up.

He stood, shouldering his crossbow. "Next time, stay close. You're no good to me dead."

Anna laughed a little, cheerlessly. "Well, I'll say this for you, you've got courage. He's the first one to kill a vampyre in over a hundred years. I'd say that's earned him a drink."

Then she turned to me, accusations in her eyes. I tensed; oh, this was not good.

"Your name is Mikael?" she asked.

I nodded, knowing that Anna was about to start asking questions that I didn't have answers for.

She did me one better and brandished a stake in my face.

Yeah. Definitely not good.

"Get back, vampyre! Her name is Princess Mikael!" she yelled to the crowd. "She is the Princess Dracula has been searching for!"

They started yelling and calling for me to be staked. Gabrael looked around at the crowd, putting an arm around my waist protectively, silently daring them to take a step towards me. For a moment, I leaned into him, feeling more vulnerable than I ever had since meeting him. If we were separated in this crowd for even a moment… I shuddered to think what these people would try to do to me. More to distract myself than anything, I rolled my eyes and grabbed the stake out of Anna's hand, tossing it aside.

"Will you get a grip?" I asked, bored.

I grabbed my water gun and squirted some water into my hand.

"See? Nothing," I said, showing her my unharmed palm. "I am as human as you are."

"Then how did you know the brides, unless they're your stepmothers?" Anna asked heatedly.

I shrugged. "I don't remember."

"A likely story!" one of the townsmen shouted.

"She's not a vampyre," Gabrael said loudly. "She is a slayer, as am I."

Slowly, Anna backed off, and the townspeople shut up. I threw Gabrael a thankful glance; what would I do without him?

Anna nodded curtly and turned, leading us back to her manor house. The townsfolk gave me a wide berth as I passed through them. Not out of respect; out of fear.

Wheeee, déjà vu.

Gabrael hung back with me. "The brides knew you?"

I nodded, internally sighing. Cue Gabrael interrogating me in three… two… one…

"How would they know you?"

"I have no idea, Gabrael," I said, avoiding his intense gaze.

"You can't lie to me. You know this, right?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "They called me Princess Mikael. If you can explain that to me, I'd thank you for it."

He bit his lower lip, thinking. "You don't think it has anything to do with those vampyre legends, do you?"

I shook my head. "I'm not a vampyre, Gabrael. I can't be a vampyre princess. It's just a weird coincidence."

Yes. A coincidence. Nothing more.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** I've wanted to post this chapter since the day I wrote it. Hehehehe. I love the twist at the end, and I hope you do too! Enjoy!

: Mikael's POV :

The second I entered the Valerious Manor, I knew that I was home. Everywhere I looked, everything I saw, triggered memories I didn't know I had. As I looked around the hall, I saw everything as it had once been. Furniture had been shifted or replaced, and walls had been painted. But this was my home. This was where I belonged.

"So how did you get here?" Anna asked.

"We came by sea," Carl replied.

"Really? The sea?"

"Yes."

"The Adriatic Sea?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes."

"So where do I find Dracula?" Gabrael cut in impatiently.

"Yes," Carl said again, much more interested.

I turned, willing myself out of the past; this was something I needed to hear. Memories of my past would have to wait. I had work to do in the present.

"He used to live in this very house, four centuries ago," Anna replied, looking around and shrugging. "No one knows where he lives now."

Gabrael glanced at me, nudging me when he saw the look on my face.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"I'm home," I whispered. "This was where I grew up."

Gabrael stared at me. "I thought you said you weren't a Valerious."

"I didn't think I was," I replied. "Anna, do you have a family tree anywhere?"

Anna turned, surprised. "Upstairs in the library somewhere. It's on the third floor-"

"Fourth door on my left, yes, I know," I cut in automatically.

Everyone stared at me. I shrugged; I was very used to being stared at.

"I think I used to live here," I explained.

Anna shook her head. "That's impossible. I've lived here all my life. You would have to be at least as old as my father to have lived here before me, and he was 54 when he disappeared!"

_You are much more than a Valerious, my dear._

I froze as I heard the voice in my head again. Ignoring Gabrael and whatever reaction he might have been having, I turned as if in a trance, walking down the hall and up the staircase automatically, the heels of my boots stirring the dust that coated the wooden stairs.

_I ran up the stairs quickly and nimby, hardly deterred by my corset or my long, loose hair. I lifted the skirt of my red silk dress high so it wouldn't trip me up._

_I was alone in the house, and the mob was trying to get in. Again. They hated me, called me the daughter of the demon, the angel of hell, the princess of darkness._

_I stood still in horror and amazement when I shut and bolted the door behind me, all thoughts of the peasants wiped from my mind._

_My father stood in the middle of the room. He looked much like me. I had his dark hair, his pale skin, his silver eyes. I had his height, his build._

_His face was pale, his eyes dead and cold. When he smiled at me, his eyes warmed up a bit, but I saw his pointy, killer canines._

_"F-Father?" I gasped. "No… no, it can't be. I'm hallucinating. You're dead."_

_"You're not hallucinating, Princess," he said in his thick, velvety Transylvanian accent._

_The same accent of the voice I'd been hearing since our arrival in Romania._

_"No," I said in a cracking, little voice, shaking my head. "You died. A year ago, you died. Gabrael killed you, I watched him do it, I saw your blood stain the floor at my feet."_

_He walked towards me, arms outstretched. "The Devil gave me new life, my Mikael. I am immortal, indestructible."_

_"You… you're a vampyre, aren't you?" I asked faintly. "You're the one who's been attacking the townspeople."_

_My father nodded. "Join me, Mikael. Stand by my side. I will never leave you. You'll never be left alone again."_

_I shook my head slowly. "I… I couldn't. I'm not alone, I have Gabrael…"_

_My father scoffed. "Ah, yes, Gabrael. Tell me, where was he when Raphael bit you, when he killed Alena? Where was your brave Gabrael then?"_

_His voice changed, became softer and more persuasive, when he saw the tears in my eyes. He sighed; he knew how the loss of Alena had changed me forever._

_"Don't be afraid, Mikael. Don't be afraid," my father said, stepping forward. "Join me, and you can take your revenge on Raphael. You won't have to depend on Gabrael to protect you anymore. You will be invincible, as I am. Join me. Take your place at my side once more, my daughter."_

_Only a moment of hesitation… and then I nodded._

_I leaned my head back as he kissed my forehead. He leaned down and found the two small bite marks Raphael had left, and he bit me. He drained me of my blood, cradling me gently. My breath slowed, my heart beat more weakly, my skin grew paler. My father laid me down on a nearby chaise lounge, then slit his wrist and fed me drops of his own blood._

_"Wake up, Mikael," he said softly. "Princess of the Valerious, Princess of the Draculias. Mikael, Princess of the Vampyre. Daughter of Count Dracula, wake up."_

I froze as I came out of the flashback, not daring to breathe, to move, to control the thoughts that chased each other through my head.

A princess? Was it possible that I was the vampyre princess?

But… no, that was impossible. I wasn't a vampyre.

Draculia… _Dracula_…

If my father truly was who my memory said he was… if _I_ was who he said I was…

Then I had bigger problems than stake-wielding villagers.

Oh my God…

_Don't think so fast, I can't follow you._

_F-Father?_

_Very good. Yes, my dear, it was I that you saw last night. I am your father._

_Y-You're… you're a vampyre? You're Dracula?_

_Yes._

_I… I need to talk to you._

_We are talking._

_No, I mean… face to face. I need to know a few things._

_I will answer all of your questions when we meet. It will be soon, Princess, don't worry._

_Wait! If you're really my father… what's my full name?_

_Ana Mikael Ruxandra Valerious-Draculia. My Princess._

Feeling faint, I walked up to the third floor and entered the library. I barricaded myself inside and for a moment just leaned against the door, trying to regain my breath and looking around at all the books. Surely among all these volumes there had to be something about my father… about me…

Now… where to begin?

_You might start by finding the one titled __**History of the Vampyre**__._

I looked up, startled. I hadn't expected the little voice in my head to help. Well, thank you, Father.

I opened the book my father had indicated, sitting down at the desk as I did so and propping my feet on the desk surface.

_All vampyre can trace their roots back to one man, Prince Vladislaus Draculia. Born April 22, 1422 in Wallachia, a province of Transylvania…_

_Drac- um… Father, I didn't want a biography of your life_, I thought tentatively, not sure if I could open the connection between us.

_Keep reading, Princess._

_Dracula, as he came to be called, was banished to an icy fortress. The portal to this fortress was contained within the Valerious Manor, where Dracula's daughter, Princess Mikael, continued to live and rule Transylvania._

_I didn't particularly want a biography of my life, either. Not that I don't appreciate learning it, but-_

_You're not reading far enough._

_Princess Mikael was supposedly bitten by her father in 1463, when she was 21 years old, after another of Dracula's vampyre (Count Raphael de Lioncourt, younger brother of the infamous American vampyre Lestat) killed her infant daughter, Alena. Princess Mikael was taken away from Transylvania the following year, never to return._

Everything in me was frozen, not daring to believe the words on the page but knowing deep within me that they spoke true.

_Alena? I… I had a daughter?_

I heard Father sigh heavily.

_Yes, you did. A beautiful child. She looked just like you, but she had her father's eyes._

_Um… who was her father?_

_Oh, you'll find that in the family tree. You might find __**The Blessing and the Curse**__ to be interesting._

It went on like that for hours. Under my father's direction, I read countless passages about vampyre, half-vampyre, Dracula's and my history… but no further word on my daughter or the identity of her father.

_Why won't you just tell me?_

_You wouldn't have believed me. Like you wouldn't have believed that you were the daughter of Dracula._

_Well, I'm sure you have some idea of where the family tree is, then._

_Look behind the portrait hanging above the fireplace._

Grumbling and cursing under my breath, I walked over to the fireplace and looked up at the painting. Typical. Six hours of searching, and the family tree had been five feet away the entire time.

A woman who must've been my mother and I sat in the foreground; my father stood behind us. My mother was dressed in a purple-ish gray, but it didn't fade her beauty at all. Her hair was reddish-gold and curly, pulled off her face in a Queen Anne's braid. She had a hand upon her daughter's shoulder. My father (dressed all in black, of course) stood on my left. He held my hand in his own, and smiled down upon me proudly. And I… I looked about seventeen. My long black hair was down around my shoulders, in contrast to my white dress. There was a hint of purple in my silver eyes, and a ghost of a smile parted my lips.

For a moment I just stared at the scene, at the faces of the parents I couldn't remember. Tears unexpectedly filled my eyes; what wouldn't I give to have my memory restored to me?

Hesitantly, I pulled on the portrait. It came forward easily; it was hinged to the wall. And on the backside of the portrait was an extensive family tree.

_Find Valerious the Elder._

_Got him. Married to Eleonora of Romania._

_Yes, she was a gypsy princess. I loved my mother as much as I hated my father._

_And here you are. Married to Ana Elspeth Valerious._

_She was my second cousin. Your mother was a beautiful woman. I built the Valerious Manor for her._

_And here I am. Ana Mikael Ruxandra Valerious-Draculia, born on Halloween 1442. Married to…_

I froze. Oh, no. No no no no no no no. That wasn't possible.

_No, that… that has to be impossible. It can't be._

_Oh believe me, it's quite true, my dear. Ana Mikael Ruxandra Valerious-Draculia married Gabrael Van Helsing, November 1, 1462._


	10. Chapter 10

: Mikael's POV :

: Mikael's POV :

For a moment I only stood there, staring at the family tree, as the news sunk in.

Married.

I was married.

To Gabrael.

Well, on the one hand, that explained a lot- why I felt like I'd known him, had once been so close to him, why I felt so compelled to take care of him, why the few memories I did have all seemed to include him in some way, why I couldn't seem to keep away from him.

But on the other hand- why hadn't I remembered this sooner? Did Gabrael know? Would he care, if he did? What did this mean for us? What did we do now?

My eyes snapped open and my mind went into defense mode as I felt it.

Evil.

I can always sense evil; it feels like fire covered by a sheet of coldest ice. It disquiets the soul.

It was coming from the armory.

_Well, that's not good. We don't want to face evil when it's armed._

I ran out of the library and sprinted as fast as I could towards the armory. I was met by Carl, and together we burst into the dark room. My eyes opened wide in understanding as I smelled the wet, musty smell.

"Why does it smell like wet dog in here?" Carl asked.

"Werewolf!" Gabrael exclaimed, running in towards us.

"Right, you'll need silver bullets then," Carl said, tossing him a box.

"Well done," Gabrael called as he ran out into the rain.

I glanced at Anna, who was crying and looked incredibly shaken. I glanced at Carl, then sighed.

_No, that's alright, I'll talk to Anna. Even thought she wants to run a stake through my heart._

"Anna, are you alright? What happened?" I asked.

"I-It's my brother, Velkan," Anna cried through her tears. "He's… he's a…"

"He's the werewolf?" I asked.

She nodded miserably. I looked her over quickly, searching for bite marks.

"He didn't bite you, did he?" I asked urgently.

She glared at me. "Of course not! I'm his sister! He loves me, he would never harm me!"

I shook my head. "_Velkan_ would never harm you. The _werewolf_, however…"

"We have to find him, before Van Helsing does," Anna said, running for the door.

I exchanged helpless glances with Carl before grabbing my trench and following her outside. Much though I didn't care for Anna, I knew that if we left Gabrael alone with the werewolf for too long, the werewolf would die. He has a tendancy to kill monsters if he's left alone with them for too long. Somehow, I didn't think Anna would be pleased with that.

Anna led me through the streets of town until we reached the graveyard. I stopped short as I watched as, almost in slow-motion, Gabrael pulled out his gun and aimed at the werewolf who leered at him.

"Gabrael!" I cried, drawing my own guns.

"No!" Anna yelled at the same time.

She knocked me out of the way, running for Gabrael.

BANG

Time went back to normal as Anna wrenched the gun up to the sky. Gabrael and I watched helplessly as the werewolf ran away. He growled in rage and wrapped a hand around Anna's neck, pushing her against the wall.

Well, much though I kind of enjoyed seeing that, I couldn't let him kill the gypsy princess. She was still family, after all.

"Gabrael," I said softly, laying a hand on his arm.

"Why?!" he growled at Anna.

"You're choking me!" she gasped.

"Gabrael," I said again, a little louder.

"Give me a reason not to," he said, shaking me off.

"GABRAEL VAN HELSING!!" I yelled.

He turned, locking eyes with me.

Cue the butterflies.

Wait… who said cue the butterflies?!

He seemed to regain control of himself, to find composure in my eyes, for he let Anna go and walked off, drawing a deep breath.

"I can't…" Anna panted. "If people knew…"

"He's not your brother anymore, Anna!" he exclaimed, in the midst of a fit of temper that I knew well not to interfere with.

"You knew?!" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," Gabrael sighed heavily.

"Before or after I stopped you from shooting him?" she demanded.

"Before," he admitted, turning to face her.

"And still you tried to kill him!" she yelled, pushing him.

I figured right about now was a good time for a little intervention. I grabbed Anna's shoulders, pulling her back so she couldn't touch Gabrael.

"He's a werewolf! He's gonna kill people!" Gabrael yelled.

"He can't help it!" she yelled back. "It's not his fault!"

"I know, but he'll do it anyway!" he exclaimed.

I saw the sympathy in Gabrael's dark green eyes, but also the firm determination. I knew that look too well; it meant, "no more arguing. We have to do this, so let's just finish it before things get complicated."

But Anna wasn't listening to The Look. Stupid, stupid stupid… how could we be related?

"Do you understand forgiveness?" she asked hotly.

Gabrael paused. "Yes," he said softly. "I ask for it often."

I looked at him sympathetically, my heart hurting as I sensed the pain he kept so well hidden. I knew how cursed he felt, how monstrous. How I wished that I could show him the Gabrael I saw, to show him that he wasn't cursed…

"They say Dracula has a cure," Anna said, instantly earning my full attention. "If there's a chance I can save my brother, I'm going after it."

Gabrael grabbed her. "No. I need to find Dracula."

"And I need to find my brother!" she exclaimed. "He gave his life for me. He's the only family I have left. I despise Dracula more than you could ever imagine. He's taken everything from me, leaving me alone in this world."

I bit my lip, looking away. My father had brought this misery upon Anna… how many other lives had he destroyed? How many had I hurt as the Princess of Transylvania? What atrocities had my father and I brought upon this land?

Gabrael sighed. "To have memories of those you loved and lost is perhaps harder than to have no memories at all." He paused, then turned back to Anna, his mind made up. "All right. We'll look for your brother."

Gabrael looked at me a moment before taking my hand and drawing it through his arm. I shook my head slightly as I leaned against him; I wasn't looking forward to this. I didn't particularly want to go find Velkan; wherever he was, Dracula wouldn't be too far behind. And that was a meeting that I suddenly really wanted to put off a while longer.

: Gabrael's POV :

Mikael shook her head and walked away from me, her eyes glazing over slightly. I looked after her, concerned; she had become so different since we arrived in Romania. Much more withdrawn, more brooding. I knew that she was on a quest to recover her lost memories, but I missed the quirky, confident, sassy Mikael I remembered.

I clamped down on a moment of impatience as I watched her. Since the day she joined the Order, she's always been a bit more reckless than a Knight of the Order probably should be, almost as if this were a game we were playing. As if she didn't understand the risks. For two years, she's been the brash, rush-in-and-kill-it person, and I've been the protector and voice of reason. It was the one jarring note in our partnership, the one thing that seemed off about her. From what I remembered from my dreams, Mikael had always been an efficient and brilliant warrior, but not nearly as reckless as she was now. What had happened to change her?

Since we'd come to Transylvania, however, she'd been worse than usual. Attracting so much attention from townspeople wherever we went, going off for midnight walks alone, bandying with vampyre brides… what was she trying to do? I didn't have the time or the energy to guard Carl, Mikael, and Anna all at once. So while she was on her sub-mission to figure herself out, would it be too much to ask that she remember her training and take care of herself?

That wasn't entirely fair, I corrected myself. If she was reckless, it was because I protected her from danger as best I could while staying alive myself. I had never once let her fall without catching her. In two years, she hadn't yet been in a danger that I couldn't save her from. I'd be overly sure of myself too, if I were as protected as she was.

Anna moved faster, walking beside me as Mikael walked ahead. Anna and I were leading horses we'd "borrowed" from some farmer's field, and were hunched over, following the monster's footprints, but Mikael wasn't. She kept looking straight ahead, not looking around or bending to examine the snow. It seemed that she knew exactly where she was going.

I had trouble keeping my eyes off of her as we walked along, leading our horses. The moonlight highlighted Mikael's dark curls, her slim yet curvy body, her luminous skin. She'd always been the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, but there was something different about her tonight, something that was familiar, something that I knew was connected to my life before I lost my memory, though I didn't know how. I felt close to the edge of a discovery about Mikael, about myself… but what?

I smiled as I watched her, then mentally shook myself. What was wrong with me? Mikael was my partner, my best friend, but nothing more.

So why did I feel so connected to her?

I was shaken out of my musing as Mikael quickened her pace, heading for a decrepit stone castle. Her head was held high, her stride sure. I furrowed my brows; the werewolf tracks led straight to the castle.

"Castle Frankenstein," Anna muttered. "But it should be abandoned. I don't understand. The man who lived here was killed a year ago. Grave robber, among other things," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"A year ago?" I asked, wrenching my attention from Mikael to Anna. "It was just after that that your father went missing."

"Yes," Anna said, nodding. "He was on his way to Rome. He was going to the sea."

I nodded, looking around. Anna continued speaking, her voice dreamy and revealing that mentally she was far away from here.

"I've never been to the sea. I bet it's beautiful."

I looked down at her thoughtfully. Maybe, when Mikael, Carl and I returned to Rome, we could take Anna with us…

I shook my head. I had no time for daydreams of Anna right now.

Mikael walked towards a flight of stairs, which I assumed was a back entrance. "This way," she called softly.

"Wait!" Anna said. "Shouldn't Van Helsing go first? And through the _front_ door?"

Mikael turned, grinning devilishly. "There are those who go through the front door. Those that want to live a little longer go through the back door. And if _I_ go in first, we'll find out exactly where your brother is, and what Dracula's up to. If we send _him_ in first…" she shrugged. "Well, all we'll know for certain is that Dracula knows we're here. He's never been one for subtlety."

I forgave her her moment of vain cockiness, since:

(a) She can be pretty cocky- bordering on reckless arrogance- when she wants to be. It's just how she is.

(b) What she'd said was completely true.

I shrugged, grinning. "We don't have time for subtle."

: Mikael's POV :

We all three walked through the back door quietly, finding ourselves in a long hall. I looked around at the pods that lined the wall, my eyes widening in horror as I realized what they were. Sacs. And inside were undead babies.

I shuddered; Dracula couldn't be planning to bring more of these to life… right? The last time he'd tried… well… it hadn't ended well. In fact, it had ended very very badly.

Wait… I remembered? Was my memory coming back?

I hoped so. This not knowing anything about myself was irritating. Plus, it probably wasn't a good thing to be dependant on my father for memories… especially when I'd come here for the express purpose of killing said father.

I laid a hand on Gabrael's arm, squeezing it gently to let him know that I'd be back. I left him and Anna behind, walking in the shadows of the hall as quietly as I could. Every once in a while, I saw ugly little trolls running around, chattering in their gutteral language. I rolled my eyes in disgust; the Dwerger had been helping Dracula since he first became a vampyre, over 400 years ago.

I stopped for a moment as my mental arithmetic caught up with me. If Dracula had been made into a vampyre in 1462… if I had been born in 1442…

That meant that I had to be 446 years old.

Honestly, was there _anything_ about my life and past that was even _remotely_ normal?

Eventually, I walked into a laboratory. More Dwerger were running around, under the instruction of a deathly pale, misshapen man whose name was apparently Igor. There were mini-explosions of electricity everywhere, and one or two Dwerger were always on fire. I shook my head and crept around carefully, concealing myself as well as I could.

I stared at the werewolf that writhed in agony on the floor, watching in horrified fascination as it changed back into an incredibly attractive man that had to have been Prince Velkan (meaning I couldn't flirt with him… pity). A man dressed all in black walked towards Velkan.

Count Dracula.

I stared at him, breathless; I really did look just like him.

"Werewolves are such a nuisance before their first full moon," Dracula complained. "So hard to control." He paused to consider the exhausted Velkan, who lay on the floor, panting. "I send you on a simple errand to find out who our new visitor is, and you had to stop for a little chat with your sister," he said, shaking his head in disappointment.

I looked around, seeking a way out.

_Time to find Anna and Gabrael…_

I froze as Dracula stiffened and turned, his eyes searching for me. As quickly and silently as I could, I left the laboratory, heading down a dark hallway.

_Van Helsing? Here?_

_Um… no… he and I are at the Manor. He's downstairs somewhere with Anna._

_You always were a horrible liar, my Mikael. Just as well; it's about time he and I had a little chat._

_That… does not sound good._

_Oh, I won't be too mean._

_Coming from you, that's hardly encouraging._

_Thank you for the vote of confidence, Princess._

_No problem._

I heard someone walking towards where I hid in a marbled hall. I pressed against a column, listening. It was a man walking, and it wasn't Gabrael. His boots echoed in the hall, but not as loudly as Gabrael's would have. He stopped walking just in front of the column I hid behind. I held my breath, closing my eyes.

"Come out, Mikael," he said softly. "You cannot hide from me."

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, then stepped out to face him, raising my chin in an attempt to appear more confident than I felt.

His black hair was gathered in a ponytail with a silver clip in the shape of a dragon. His gray eyes glowed when he saw me. Like me, he was dressed in all black. He smiled.

"You have returned to me," he said, his velvet voice caressing me. "Welcome home, my Princess."

In the first few glorious moments after he spoke, I felt safe, and utterly protected. Almost exactly as I felt when I was with Gabrael. Here was a man who had taken care of me, protected me from harm.

A great bolt of electricity ran through the hall via cables that connected to all the little pods, snapping me out of the trance of my father's voice. I heard screams of pain echoing through the castle, and knew them to be Velkan's. Dracula smiled delightedly and took my hand in his.

"Come, my dear. You must be here to witness the birth of your siblings," he said, leading me to a balcony.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

Dracula smiled. "Well, you see, when I discovered that you could not be made a true vampyre, I knew that I needed to create children that would continue my line."

I bent my head, closing my eyes as my mind was flooded with feelings I didn't understand- centuries-old guilt, confusion, pain.

"You had me," I said softly, the words spilling out of me before I knew I'd thought them. "Was I not enough?"

Dracula slid his ice-cold fingers under my chin, seeking my eyes.

"You were always my pride and joy, Mikael, my dearest child," he said gently. "I was ecstatic when you were rendered immortal. But you were stolen from me," he continued, his voice hardening. "Van Helsing stole you away, took you away from Transylvania. So I have tried to bring more children to life. And this time, I have hopefully succeeded."

I looked away, feeling the effects of the trance he was putting me into. I knew he was trying to persuade me, and I couldn't afford to let myself give in to his reasoning. But… after knowing nothing but hatred from mankind for as long as I could remember, it was nice to know that there was one person in the world who wanted me.

Aleera and Verona appeared out of nowhere as the undead children started hatching. They pushed me out of Dracula's arms and started fawning over him. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms and sighing in disgust.

But I'd worry about my hatred of the sluts later. Right now I had more important things to think about. Like the birth of 10,000 demonic siblings.

"They need to feed," Dracula said to his brides. "Teach them how. And beg the Devil that this time they live!"

The brides changed into the Hellbeast form and flew out, the children following them. I smiled smugly and moved closer to Dracula. Now it was just me and my father. Everything was as it should be.

No, wait, scratch that thought. I'm here to kill Dracula, not get close to him.

Focus, Mikael.

I started at the sound of gunshots. I moved to the edge of the balcony and looked down, into Gabrael's eyes. He'd been occupied with shooting some of my siblings. Oh well.

He lowered his gun. If he was surprised at finding me standing beside Dracula, he gave no sign of it. "Now that I have your attention…"

Dracula roared in rage, changing into his Hellbeast form. Gabrael turned and hauled ass out of there. Dracula grabbed me as he flung himself off the balcony to chase Gabrael. I gasped; how many dreams I'd had about flying like this… I would love to fly as he did…

Wait. I didn't mean that. To fly like Dracula, I'd have to become a vampyre. It was bad enough to be their princess; I didn't need to become one of them.

We landed in a small courtyard, which though indoors was open to the sky above. Father set me down and changed back to normal.

"I can tell the character of a man by the sound of his heartbeat," Dracula said, clapping out a rhythm. "Usually, when I approach, I can almost dance to the beat. Strange that yours is so steady."

I stared at Dracula's hands. The duplicated sound of Gabrael's heartbeat, oddly enough, calmed me, made me feel that everything would be alright. It was a trance all its own, and this one I surrendered to, losing myself in a feeling of safety more profound than that I'd felt when Dracula and I came face to face.

I looked over my father's shoulder as something shiny caught my eye. Just as I dove out of the way, Gabrael jumped down from a balcony above and shoved a stake through Dracula's heart. Gabrael grabbed me, wrapping me in his arms as he backed away. I stared in horror as Dracula screamed in pain, wincing though I knew this had to be done.

Dracula looked up, smiling maliciously. "Hello, Gabrael."

Gabrael stared at him. Dracula smiled again, pulling out the stake.

"Is this your silver stake?" he asked, tossing it aside carelessly before advancing towards us.

I sighed in relief to see that he was alright.

Wait, hold it.

If he was okay, that meant that he was going to be difficult, just like all the other evil bastards.

Great.

_You're not happy to see that I'm unharmed, Princess?_

_Have I not made it clear that I'm here to kill you?_

_Sorry to disappoint you._

"What has it been, three, four hundred years?" he asked Gabrael.

Gabrael stared at Dracula in shock, tightening his grip on me. I couldn't help but wrap my own arms around him and melt into him, my eyes closing of their own volition; he always made me feel so safe and protected.

"You don't remember, do you?" Dracula asked, sounding amused.

"Exactly what is it that I'm supposed to be remembering?" Gabrael asked.

Dracula smiled. "You are the great Van Helsing! Trained by monks and mullahs from Tibet to Istanbul, protected by Rome herself. But, like me, hunted by all others."

"The Knights of the Holy Order know all about you," Gabrael said, holding me tightly. "It's no surprise you would know about me."

"Yes, but it's so much more than this," Dracula smirked.

I held my breath, fear creeping into me. Why did I have the feeling that Dracula was about to start revealing information that would make for a very unhappy Gabrael? Or, for that matter, a very unhappy me?

_What are you about to do? Please don't tell me you're about to reveal some shocking, life-altering information… please?_

_All right, I won't tell you._

_No! The idea is not to do it at all!_

_Where's the fun in that?_

"We have such history, the three of us, Gabrael. Our story is so complicated, so fascinating."

Gabrael stared at me, but I looked down, avoiding his gaze.

_Oh here we go… now you've done it…_

_I haven't even gotten started, Princess._

"Mikael, what is he talking about?" Gabrael asked me, pulling me in even closer to him.

"Have you never wondered why you have such terrible nightmares of horrific scenes of battles from ages past?" Dracula asked Gabrael. "Have you never wondered why you dream of Mikael so often? Never wondered why she wears that ruby on her left hand?"

"Father…" I said without thinking.

Gabrael stared at me disbelievingly. "Father?!"

Gabrael let me go and stepped away from me. I looked up at him then, feeling very vulnerable and unsafe. Dracula stepped forward, wrapping an arm around me protectively.

"Yes, Gabrael," he said. "Meet my only daughter. So, would you like me to refresh your memory a little? Hmm?" he asked. "A few details from your sordid past?"

Gabrael shoved a cross at Dracula, who screamed as he grasped the holy object. I flinched as he yelled. Dracula pushed me away; Gabrael caught me and wrapped his arms around me almost painfully tightly. Dracula nodded as he dropped the twisted piece of molten metal that used to be a crucifix.

"Perhaps that is a conversation for another time," he said. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Count Vladislaus Draculia," he said, bowing. "Born, 1422. Murdered, 1462. And let me reintroduce you to my daughter, Princess Ana Mikael Ruxandra Valerious-Draculia. Born, October 31, 1442. Bitten, October 31, 1463."

From a distance, I heard the brides screaming in agony. Gabrael and I ran into an elevator. He held me down, keeping me covered as we rode up to the roof.

"I think we've overstayed our welcome," he shouted to Anna.

Gabrael and I pulled out guns and shot them across the deep cavern that separated the castle from the protecting, sheltering forest. Guide cables flew out of the guns and buried themselves into trees on the opposite side of the ravine. We clipped attatchments onto the wires, then flung ourselves out, flying along the wires until we reached the other side. Then we hauled ass out of there.

As we walked towards a destroyed windmill, I sighed to myself. Gabrael was giving me the cold shoulder. Which, I had to admit, I understood. I probably should have told him that I was Dracula's daughter, and that he would seek me out.

But honestly, can you blame me for keeping that to myself?

I tuned back into reality as Anna shoved Van Helsing into the wall.

"Don't you understand?" she asked forcefully. "No one knows how to kill Dracula."

"Well, I could've used that information a little earlier," he said, grinning a little at how close he and Anna were.

I watched the unfolding situation, feeling like I'd been kicked in the gut. I knew that Gabrael didn't know that we were married, but… he was my husband! And he was flirting with Anna! It hurt to watch him. Because I knew that he was attracted to Anna. I also knew that he wasn't attracted to me like that. And that knowledge just hurt.

"Don't give me that look," Anna said to Gabrael.

I turned my head to look at them, folding my arms and completely ignoring the rain that drenched me and got in my eyes.

Anna closed her eyes and sighed. "You were right. I'm sorry. He's not my brother anymore."

Gabrael looked at her, then set his hat on her head. I stared at him; he never let anyone wear his hat. Not even me. Why did she get to wear it?

God, I didn't like where this was going.

"Do you have any family, Mr. Van Helsing?" Anna asked.

Gabrael draped an arm around my shoulders. I looked down, cursing the butterflies that insisted on fluttering in my stomach, despite how hurt I was about the Gabrael/Anna situation.

"Other than Mikael? I'm not sure. I hope to find out some day, it's what keeps me going," he said.

I tried to conceal a flinch as the name _Alena_ flashed through my head. Alena… our daughter… and Gabrael had no idea. He had no idea that all that was left of his family was in his arms right now.

"What about you, Mikael?" Anna asked.

I hid a bitter smile at the question. I quite obviously couldn't tell Anna the truth about myself, Alena, and Gabrael… or about my father. I knew that if Anna discovered that I was indeed the daughter of Dracula, she'd shove a stake through my heart faster than you could say 'vampyre princess'.

"He's about all the family that I can take," I finally said, avoiding Gabrael's piercing glance.

Damn Gabrael's piercing glance that cues the damn butterflies.

Anna grabbed a bottle of alcohol. "Here's to what keeps you going," she toasted Gabrael.

"Absinthe? Strong stuff," he said, sounding impressed.

She took a swig and handed him the bottle. "Don't let it touch your tongue. It'll knock you on your a-"

"AAHHH!!" we all screamed as the wooden floor caved in.


	11. Chapter 11

: Mikael's POV :

I groaned as I was shaken awake. I groaned, slumping forward into Gabrael's chest; my head ached something terrible, and I didn't want to open my eyes.

"Mikael! Mikael, wake up," Gabrael urgently whispered, rubbing my arms and wrapping his arms around.

"Ughn… don't wanna," I whined, laying my head on his shoulder.

"Come on, Mikael, open your eyes," he said soothingly.

I opened my eyes reluctantly and sat up dizzily as the cave swam around. I fell backwards, only to be caught by Gabrael. I shook my head to clear my vision, then moaned again; that had only made things worse. I closed my eyes again and leaned back into him.

"Oh my aching head," I moaned.

"Are you okay? Other than the bump on your forehead?" he asked, checking me over.

"Oh, I'm just peachy," I grumbled.

"Yeah, you're okay," he grinned, hugging me. "Honestly, Mikael. I can't leave you alone for ten minutes without you going and bumping right into Dracula?"

Maybe I should've taken that opportunity to tell him about the mind connection I had with my father, how he was reading my thoughts and might be tracking our movements.

However, I like to keep Gabrael in a good mood. His temper is no fun to deal with, especially when it's directed at me. So I gave him the dignified answer- I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed, rubbing my arms to warm me up. I gave an inaudible sigh of relief; crisis diverted.

"So does this mean you're done being mad at me?" I asked, hugging back.

"For the moment," he said before going off to look for Anna.

I muttered a string of profanities under my breath as I slowly forced myself up. I, unlike Carl, know how to curse, and curse well. I can outcuss a sailor.

When Gabrael had found Anna, he and I took a good look around. Apparently, the windmill had collapsed, trapping us in this underground cave. I had landed in a shallow puddle of muddy water. I was sopping wet, and, of course, freezing. Gabrael noticed, and even though he was as wet as I was we had apparently landed side by side in the water, he wrapped an arm around me, holding me close. I folded my arms and moved in closer; no matter what, Gabrael always seems to be warm. Just like I always seem to be cold.

"There's something down here," he said. "And it's carnivorous."

I shuddered slightly; I hoped we wouldn't meet it. These footprints were huge. And in my vast experience, something that big was never good news for us. I shook my head as I looked at the large pile of food refuse. Then I knelt and picked up a slightly burned Bible.

"Well, whatever it is," I said, holding the book up to Gabrael, "it appears to be… human."

"I'd say he's a size 17, about 360 pounds, about 9 feet tall, he has a bad gimp in his right leg, and… uh… 3 copper teeth," Gabrael said.

When I saw where Gabrael's attention was riveted, my breath caught in my throat. I ever so slowly reached for my gun.

Anna stared at him. "How do you know he's got copper teeth?"

"Because he's standing right behind you- MOVE!" Gabrael yelled quickly.

Gabrael and I opened fire. The monster roared, picked Gabrael up, and threw him into the pool of water. He also knocked Anna and I out of the way. My gun lay just out of my reach, and I was too winded to roll over and grab it.

"Oh my god," Anna said, scrambling backwards. "The Frankenstein monster!"

"Monster?!" the monster roared. "Who is the monster here? I have done nothing wrong, and yet you and all your kind wish me dead!"

He looked over at me, growled, and picked me up by the neck, slamming me into the cave wall. I grasped at his hand, choking, and stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Mikael!" Gabrael yelled.

"She is the monster!" Frankenstein yelled. "She and the rest of her kind! Vampyre!"

Gabrael kicked Frankenstein in the back. He howled and threw me aside. Gabrael caught me and held me as I caught my breath. I gingerly fingered my breath, wincing at the bruises that were forming.

"What do you want?" Anna asked the monster.

He stared at her for a second. "To exist," he said sadly.

Suddenly, he howled, clawing at his back. I lowered Gabrael's dart gun. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders; not sure why he did that.

Not that I was complaining, mind you. In fact, I liked it. But we're not gonna dwell on that.

Well, we'll dwell on it for a minute.

Okay, minute over. And we're moving on…

Anna walked up to Frankenstein, gun in hand. A warning tugged on my heart. Gabrael and I walked towards her; we couldn't kill this pathetic creature. We're not allowed to kill anything that's not evil.

"Wait!" I said.

"We must kill it!" she said, shaking herself loose of my grasp.

"Wait," Gabrael repeated.

Anna sighed but lowered the gun. I rolled my eyes; at least she listened to one of us…

"If you value your lives, and the lives of your kind, you will kill me!" Frankenstein exclaimed.

Wait a minute… he wanted to exist, but he wanted us to kill him? Had we run into a bipolar monster? Somehow that idea didn't make me feel any better.

Anna nodded, raising the gun again.

"No!" Gabrael said.

I rolled my eyes. I appreciated Anna's enthusiasm, I really did. But her eagerness was starting to get on my nerves. Plus, she was screwing up Gabrael's and my routine. We were a partnership, not a triumvirate. We didn't need her butting in.

"If Dracula finds me…" Frankenstein shuddered, then looked up at us. "I am the Key to my father's machine. The Key to life. Life for Dracula's children."

I stared. This… was not good.

Gabrael shook his head again. "He already awakened them last night."

Frankenstein scoffed impatiently. "Those were from only one bride, from one single birthing. And they died, just as they did the last time he tried. Only with me can he give them lasting life."

Gabrael stared at him. "There are more? More of those… things?"

"Thousands. Thousands more," Frankenstein said.

Then he collapsed from the sleeping draught in the darts.

Gabrael stared at me in shock, his gaze darkening when I nodded. Yes, there were thousands more. They were housed in Castle Dracula. I had been there, had watched my father and his three whores stringing thousands of pods onto every hanging surface in the castle…

Wait. I was remembering something. My memory was returning!

Then I sighed. Why was it that I had yet to remember anything _good_?

Immediately, my mind pulled up the memory of kissing Gabrael. I silently groaned and locked that memory away again; married or not, he didn't belong to me like that anymore, and I might as well accept it.

Anna moved forward with the gun yet again. I pushed her back, this time not so gently. She was really starting to get on my nerves, and I was already in a bad mood.

"No!" Gabrael said, now a bit annoyed.

Which, I have to admit, made me kind of happy. Him being irritated with Anna, that is.

"You heard what he said!" Anna exclaimed.

"Our life, our job, is to vanquish evil," I said, motioning at myself and Van Helsing. "We can… we can sense evil. This thing… man… whatever it is… evil may have created it, may have left its mark on it, but evil does not rule it. So we cannot kill it."

Anna looked at me like I was crazy. "I can," she pointed out, moving forward again.

"Not while we're here," Gabrael said, picking up on my thought train. "Anna, your family spent 400 years trying to kill Dracula. Maybe this poor creature can help us find a way."

I sniffed the air and stiffened. There it was again- wet dog.

We all wheeled around to see the werewolf Velkan had become leer at us before disappearing. Anna shot at it, but missed.

…and she'd wanted to kill Frankenstein…? Her aim sucked!

"Oh my God. He's seen us," she said. "Now they'll come for him, and neither you nor I will be able to stop him."

Gabrael thought hard for a moment. "If we can get him to Rome… we can protect him there."


	12. Chapter 12

: Gabrael's POV :

**Author's Note**: Wheeeee big action sequence #3 (or is it #4?)! This was a fun scene to write, unlike the last one. Also, after this is where my Mikael sub-plot gets more important, both for this story and the sequel (yes, there will be a sequel). So please do pay attention. Enjoy!

: Gabrael's POV :

I met Carl, Anna and Mikael in the courtyard later that morning. Carl looked nervous and skittish (nothing unusual there, admittedly). Anna seemed pensieve and determined. And Mikael… she seemed pale and wan, and very tired, as if she hadn't slept at all last night. I looked at her worriedly, but she wouldn't meet my gaze, instead dropping her eyes to the ruby ring she twisted on her left hand.

Sighing, I turned to look at the two carriages, each pulled by six horses.

"Now listen, Carl, whatever you do, don't stare at him," I begged the friar.

I opened the carriage to reveal a snarling Frankenstein struggling against the iron chains and locks I'd put him in. Mikael crossed her arms and silently watched, mildly amused.

Carl quickly turned away. "I'm staring at him. Is that a man?"

"Actually, it's seven men. Parts of them, anyway," I said, winking at Mikael.

She looked away. I don't know why it hurt me so much that she was ignoring me. And I didn't want to go too deeply into it, for fear of what I'd discover about myself.

"Nothing is faster than Transylvanian horses, not even a werewolf," Anna said as we closed Carl and Frankenstien into a carriage. "Anything else, you're on your own."

She punched me in the arm and smiled wanly at Mikael, who weakly returned it. I furrowed my brow; I didn't understand why they didn't get along. Shaking my head, I followed Mikael over to the other, empty decoy carriage. Well, empty but for the stakes and explosives.

"Ladies first," I said, boosting her up.

She said nothing. I sighed; it was going to be a very long trip.

: Mikael's POV :

"Are we there yet?" I asked.

"No," Gabrael sighed.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No. And before you ask, we're not there yet."

I paused for a moment.

"How about now?"

"Mikael!" Gabrael exclaimed.

"I'm _bored_!" I whined.

"Well, find some way to amuse yourself," he sighed.

I muttered to myself. It had been a long, boring and awkward two days. I found it impossible to look Gabrael in the eyes, to be alone with him like this. My secret knowledge made it hard to be around him. How sad; gaining the knowledge of how we'd known each other was supposed to bring us closer, not create this horrible awkwardness that I couldn't break and that he didn't understand.

"Humph… amuse myself," I mumbled.

I flipped myself back onto the roof of the carriage and lay on my back, looking up at the steely gray sky. It was one thing about Transylvania that part of me loved and the other half of me loathed; it was always gloomy. Very atmospheric. Wonderful if you're avoiding sun; terrible if you're trying to keep depression at bay.

I dangled a hand back over the carriage and played with Gabrael's hair. He swatted my hand away, annoyed.

"Are you trying to be as annoying as possible?" he asked testily.

"Depends," I shrugged. "Am I succeeding?"

"Too well," he grumbled.

"Good," I nodded. "And you know you love me."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I winced. If only…

My heart fell further when Gabrael snorted derisively. Damned cosmic reminder that he wasn't mine anymore…

Rolling my eyes, I left Gabrael to stew in his bad mood. Probably not very kind of me, since I had caused his bad mood, but I was in too much of a mood myself to try to lift his spirits. I looked back up at the sky, noticing not for the first time how quiet it was. The entire forest was shrouded in the unnatural stillness. No birds chirping, no animal making any noises; I swear even the wind wasn't blowing.

Moving as if on command, I lightly jumped back into my seat beside Gabrael, easily taking the reins from him as he grabbed his beloved crossbow.

The silence was shattered when Verona flew down out of nowhere and grabbed Gabrael and I, pulling us up into the air. She clutched me in her arms, and Gabrael by her foot. She held me at eye level, trancing me to ensure that I wouldn't fight her. Gabrael grabbed her wing as I fought the trance, reaching for the dagger in my boot. He jerked on her wing as I left a long cut along her collarbone (my hand slipped as I tried to slit her throat), and with a shriek she released us both.

I groaned slightly as I landed hard on one of the horses' backs. I shook my head to clear my senses and looked ahead. I stared, then calmly turned to look at Gabrael.

"Well," I said, inclining my head towards the broken bridge not 200 yards ahead of us, "isn't this an 'oh shit' moment."

We didn't glance at each other, but on Gabrael's command we stood up on the horses' backs and jumped onto each horse's back to get back to the carriage. Gabrael reached it first, then turned to grab me as I jumped. But just before I made it, Aleera swooped down and pushed us hard, knocking us off the carriage.

I fell back against the floorboard, hitting my head hard against the footrest. I pulled myself up, then gasped; Gabrael had been thrown down into the horses' harness, his head only inches from their pounding hooves. As he struggled to extricate himself, I looked ahead. I paled drastically as we approached the broken bridge at full speed.

The horses made a mighty leap and jumped over the chasm. I screamed as I was thrown into the air, then grabbed the luggage rack atop the carriage and held on for dear life, gasping in pain as my ribcage collided with the roof. I caught a glance of Gabrael, who was also airborne. He landed on one of the horses' backs just as they reached the other side of the ravine. The carriage snapped free of the harness, and it and I went plummeting down to the abyss.

"GABRAEL!!" I screamed as I fell.

I was terrified, well and truly afraid. For the first time ever, I was falling, and Gabrael wasn't there to catch me. A sense of my own mortality hit me for the first time. I was going to die…

And I'd never gotten to tell Gabrael I loved him.

I heard a great rush of wind and looked up to see Aleera and Verona flying down towards me.

"Save the monster!" Aleera screamed to Verona.

As Verona ripped open the carriage door, Aleera grabbed me and started flying up, saving me from death by collision. She looked down at me spitefully.

"This changes nothing, Mikael," she snarled. "I only saved you because my Master commanded it."

"And I'm only restraining myself from staking you because you're airborne and I don't want to die with you," I snapped, almost weak with relief at the fact that I wasn't dead.

Once we reached the top of the canyon, she threw me towards Gabrael and the horses. I yelped as I fell, but somehow managed to land in his lap, my legs draped over his. He wrapped his arms around me, letting the horses run on their own. Before I knew what was happening, his lips were on mine, our tongues entwined.

For a moment I let myself get lost in the kiss, to pretend that it meant something to him other than a mindless reaction. In that second, I silently told him everything- my relief that I was alive, my newfound fear that we could actually die here, my love for him.

We snapped out of it when we heard Verona's death shriek. Anna chose that moment to drive her carriage towards us so we could jump onto it. I jumped onto the roof; Gabrael sat next to Anna. I rolled my eyes in disgust. Oh, sure. Kiss me, then go back to flirting with Anna. Thanks a lot, Gabrael. Because that makes me feel really special.

I stiffened as I looked the werewolf in the eye.

"Heh… nice doggie…" I said.

The werewolf backhanded me across the face, sending me flying backwards. I knocked Anna and Gabrael over; they each fell to one side of the carriage, and I landed in the horses' harness (exactly the position Gabrael had been in about five minutes ago). I slid my feet under me and pushed up as hard as I could. The momentum vaulted me back up towards the seat. I clambered into the seat and grabbed the reins, keeping the horses steady as Anna and Gabrael were thrown onto the roof by Carl and Frankenstein. Gabrael knocked over one of the carriage's lanterns, setting the roof on fire.

"Well done, dipshit," I muttered.

We all grinned at each other- well, my grin was more a smirk- until we saw the werewolf climbing back onto the roof.

"JUMP!" Gabrael bellowed.

He pushed me none-too-gently off the seat as the werewolf lunged for me. I landed on the road, but there were dead leaves and fir branches to cushion my fall. Poor Anna didn't have that luxury… how sad (note my sarcasm). I heard two gunshots and the thump of Gabrael's landing somewhere near me before the darkness took me.

I woke up and rolled over, groaning. Oh my head…

I forced myself into a sitting position and looked around. The carriage was absolutely wrecked. Oh, perfect. The plan to get Frankenstein to Rome had just been shot to shit…

But I was alive and relatively unharmed, that was the important thing.

Which reminded me. Was I the only one who was alive and unharmed?

I stumbled through the trees, looking for the others, but instead came upon a man dressed only in tattered pants lying against a rock.

Prince Velkan.

I walked towards him, noticing the two gunshots in his chest. Gabrael had gotten him. On the one hand, good; no more werewolf to deal with. On the other hand, bad; Anna would not be pleased.

Velkan stared as I knelt beside him. "Are you… an angel?" he asked, gasping for breath.

I froze for a second before deciding to go with it. He didn't have long to live, and if the thought of an angel would bring him comfort, then an angel I would be.

"Yes, Velkan," I said softly, working hard to keep the accent out of my voice. "Where you are going, there is no more pain, and no more death. Only peace. You have earned your reward. You are going to rest."

"Will my family be there?" he asked.

I nodded. "All the generations of your family await you."

"Anna," he said suddenly, tugging weakly at my hand. "Promise me, Angel. Promise me that you will watch over her. Don't let her come to harm."

"I promise, Velkan," I said soothingly, lying through my teeth. "I will watch over her. Have no fear. Rest now."

I looked up as a disoriented Anna stumbled into the clearing. She fell down beside me, with eyes for nothing but her brother.

"Anna… forgive me," he gasped before he drew his last breath.

Tears filled Anna's eyes as she stroked her brother's cheek.

"I will see you again," she whispered.

I looked up to see Gabrael staggering towards us, clutching his shoulder and leaning against a tree in pain. I got up and ran to him, in relief and in fear of what injuries he'd suffered. Anna also ran to him, but not for the same reasons as I.

"You killed him. You killed him!" she screamed, hitting him.

"Now you know why they call me murderer," he gasped, flinching in pain.

I paled; Gabrael never revealed pain. If he was flinching…

Oh God. This wasn't good.

"Gabrael?" I asked, my voice faint. "What's wrong?"

He grabbed his chest, bending over in pain. Anna seized his trench and moved it aside, staring at the blood and holes in his sweater for a moment before backing away in horror.

"Oh my God. You've been bitten," she said softly.

I moved forward as if in a dream, not daring to believe my eyes. But there was no mistaking the large teeth marks on Gabrael's shoulder. I fingered the wound, watching it scab over under my touch, before looking up into his eyes.

"No," I whispered as I touched his cheek. "No. Not you. I don't want to kill you, Gabrael. I can't kill you! I need you!"

He wordlessly wrapped his arms around me as I broke down in tears, clinging to him.

Funny, how I'd never really noticed how much Gabrael had protected me, until this moment when I realized he wouldn't be able to do so any longer.

Two years of missions flashed before my eyes. Two years of my being needlessly reckless, of blithely skipping along through incredible danger, none of the risks registering to me, because I had him there. I'd known Gabrael would protect me, so what did I have to fear?

How incredibly stupid of me.

And now… now it was too late. I would lose Gabrael with the next full moon. Then what would I do? Could I handle a mission alone, when I didn't have him watching my back (and my sides and most likely my front too)?

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry, Gabrael."

I broke out of his arms a moment later and walked away blindly, tears obscuring my vision. I dimly heard Anna follow me as I walked into a ring of trees, but I ignored her.

Before I could react, Aleera appeared from behind a tree. She backhanded Anna, then turned to me.

The last thing I saw before passing out from her trance was her cold, red eyes…


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note**: I could subtitle this chapter The Big Chapter of Character Exposition. I had way too much fun writing this chapter and further complicating an already messy situation. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: The character of Raphael is my own, though he was heavily influenced by the vampire Lestat, who belongs to Anne Rice.

: Gabrael's POV :

I was fuming as I strode through the streets of Valeria, followed by Carl and Frankenstein. I had failed. I hadn't gotten Frankenstein to Rome, and now Anna and Mikael had been captured by Dracula. And I had no idea how to get them back. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists.

_If he harms her in any way, I will show him the meaning of pain…_

I knew I had said to myself that Mikael needed to fail, to fall, to understand the danger we were in. But I had never thought that it would actually happen, that she would be in danger and I couldn't save her. And I hated that I couldn't protect her.

I was also furious at her for having gotten captured. Irrational but true. When I got her back, I was going to shake her until she couldn't see straight. Then we were going to sit down and have a very long and serious talk about common sense and self-defense. That is, if we didn't end up kissing again.

Carl tugged on my sleeve, snapping me back to reality. I looked up to see Aleera crouched on a low wall, sneering at us. She _tsk tsked_ and shook her finger.

"So much trouble to my Master," she said. "So much trouble."

"What do you want?" I asked, really not in the mood to deal with her.

"The Master commands a trade," Aleera said. "The monster for the princess."

I looked down for a moment, considering as a plan began to form itself in my mind.

"What about Mikael?" I asked.

I was pretty sure of what the answer would be, but I had to ask.

Aleera laughed. "Oh no. The Master will not give up his daughter again, certainly not to _you_. No. The Master has plans for Princess Mikael."

I gritted my teeth to keep from killing her right then and there. I didn't like the sound of these plans. I had to get her back before Dracula bit her, or something else equally as bad.

"Fine. Somewhere public, lots of people," I said, ignoring Frankenstein's indignant glare. "A place where your master will be less inclined to expose his- his other side."

Aleera smiled. "Tomorrow night is All Hallows Eve. Here in Budapest, there is a wonderful masquerade ball to celebrate Princess Mikael's birthday."

Emitting a high laugh that was almost a shriek, she flew off. Frankenstein turned to me, enraged. I lowered my head, suppressing a grunt of pain.

"Are you alright?" Carl asked concernedly, reaching for my trench.

"No," I said quickly.

Frankenstein growled and pushed me, shoving aside my coat to reveal the bite mark.

"He has been bitten," Frankenstein said. "Bitten by a werewolf. Now you will become that which you have hunted so passionately."

I pulled out my blowgun, looking up apologetically. "I am sorry."

Frankenstein straightened. "May others be as passionate in the hunting of you."

He collapsed as I shot him with the tranquilizer darts.

Carl and I staggered as we carried him away to hide him, but my mind wasn't on the task. It was instead on what Frankenstein had said- _may others be as passionate in the hunting of you_. I knew he had been referring to Mikael. The thought that I was now to become a monster, and that I would be killed by my best friend and partner, was a painful one. But there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I could only hope that Mikael would be able to forgive herself.

: Mikael's POV :

I woke up slowly, moaning. God, I had such a headache…

As my vision swam into focus, I saw that I was in a circular, stone room, probably in the tower of a castle. The room seemed vaguely familiar; I seemed to remember the dark blue tapestries on the walls, and the hangings on the bed. I had been here before, back in that time of memories that was so hazy to me now.

I sat up slowly as I looked down. I found that I was now garbed in a blood red dress- corset top that died down both the front and the back, full skirt with a generous train, black velvet pattern of vines and leaves along the (very low) neckline and the ties of the dress. My black hair fell down my back. Black hair, white skin, red dress.

_My god, I look like a vampyre already…_

I stood and walked to the door, but found it to be locked. I sighed in frusteration, tilting my head back.

"I could have told you it was locked."

I turned to see Anna. She had been lying in a bed next to mine. I must've been so involved with looking around that I missed her. I turned back around, really not in the mood to deal with her right now.

"I'm glad to see that you are both awake."

I stiffened at the sound of my father's voice, and looked up to see him standing before the locked door. He smiled at me.

"Hello, my Mikael."

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

Dracula's smile widened. "I had to be able to talk to you without your Gabrael hanging around."

"He's not mine," I said immediately, looking away to keep from glaring at Anna.

Dracula chuckled. "He certainly isn't Anna's."

I didn't look up to see her reaction to that; I just looked out the single window.

"What are we talking about?"

"Your past."

Well, that got my attention…

"There are so many things you do not know, my daughter," Dracula said. "If you knew the truth of your past, knew how Gabrael had let you down and betrayed you…"

"What?" I choked out.

Dracula smiled. "Would you care to see?"

Without waiting for me to reply, he walked forward and kissed my forehead. My eyes rolled back in my head as I fell into a faint, but I wasn't asleep. It felt more like I had regressed into a deep, dark corner of my mind that had formerly been closed off to me.

_A veritable goddess of a woman danced around the hallway of the Valerious Manor. Her red-gold hair hung lustruously down her back in soft curls. Her creamy skin glowed with the vigor of health. Her emerald eyes danced and sparkled in the firelight. She wore a dress that perfectly matched her eyes and suberbly enhanced her faultless body._

_I stared long and hard at the mother I had never known, unexpected tears stinging my eyes._

_Ana Valerious held a small bundle of blankets as she danced around the room, humming an old Romanian love song to herself. A tiny hand poked out of the blankets and grabbed for the silver cross pendant that hung off a black ribbon around Ana's neck, the necklace identical to the one I now wore._

_Ana laughed, gently disentangling her daughter's hand from the cross. "You like it, my Ana?" she asked. "Very well. Someday it shall be yours."_

My father's voice resounded through my head. "You were born in 1442, on All Hallow's Eve. I was twenty; your mother was nineteen. You were our everything. Nothing was too good for you."

_A woman lay on a chaise lounge before a roaring fireplace. Despite the heat, she shivered violently. Her once-lustrous hair now lay on the pillow limply, shining dully in the firelight. Her formerly glowing skin had turned pale and ashy, and she had wasted away to almost nothing. Her beautiful eyes now looked so large that they dominated her face. There was no way to deny that Ana Valerious was dying._

_A small, five-year-old child ran into the room. Her black curls were messily tied back with a white ribbon, and her red velvet dress was rumpled and dirty. Tears streamed out of her almost-silver eyes as she saw the pitiful creature her once-beautiful mother had become._

_"Ana, you look a fright," Ana said, rasping with each painful breath, but trying to laugh. "Come, let Mother straighten you up."_

_Ana approached her mother, tears streaming down her face. "Mama, you can't go…"_

_Ana tried to smile. "I'm not going anywhere, my love. You will always have me, even if you don't see me."_

_Ana struggled to raise her arms to remove the cross necklace from around her neck._

_"Here, my Ana," she said, handing her daughter the necklace. "Keep this safe for me."_

_Ana's tears fell faster at that, and she threw her arms around her mother._

_"I will be good," she cried. "I promise I'll be good!"_

Dracula sighed. "Ana caught the wasting disease when you were five. She died on November 1, 1447. I was never the same after that… and neither were you."

_A nineteen-year-old girl stood on the balcony railing, walking back and forth across the banister, her eyes on the stars. Her raven hair was tied into a messy but becoming half-ponytail. She was dressed simply in a white corset-top dress that made her creamy skin glow. She was barefoot, and wore no jewelry but a cross pendant that dangled off a black ribbon around her neck._

_A twenty-four-year-old young man stood on the balcony, his dusky green eyes anxiously following her every move, lest she fall to her death. His dark brown hair hung loose in his face. He was dressed in a white peasant shirt and black pants and boots._

_Mikael laughed. "Honestly, Gabrael, you're too protective of me."_

_"Someone has to be," Gabrael Van Helsing grumbled. "If I didn't look after you, you'd likely break your neck."_

_Mikael laughed again, a silvery laugh that sounded like the tinkle of hundreds of bells._

_"My knight in shining armor," she teased him gaily._

"When you were growing up, you had two best friends," Dracula said. "Lestat and Raphael de Lioncourt were the sons of my dearest friend and most loyal nobleman. Everyone, even you, assumed that you would someday wed Raphael. And then Gabrael came along."

He spat out Gabrael's name as if it were the dirtiest of curse words.

_Gabrael jumped onto the balcony, linking hands with Mikael from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. They stood on the banister together, looking up at the stars._

_My heart beat faster when I saw the look on Gabrael's face. He watched the girl before him as if she were the most precious and important thing in the world to him. Such caring and love shone out of his eyes… my heart ached to know that those emotions had now been lost, forgotten._

_"Promise me something, Mikael," Gabrael said softly, using her middle name as always._

_"I'm listening," Mikael replied._

_"Promise me you'll never marry Raphael."_

_Mikael grinned. "Why? Are you jealous?"_

_"Maybe," he said simply._

_She laughed again. "And who do you think I should marry?"_

_"Me," Gabrael said seriously._

_Mikael froze for a moment, her eyes wide. Then she laughed again._

_"Gabrael Van Helsing, are you proposing?"_

_"Are you saying yes?" he countered._

_She smiled. "Maybe," she said coquettishly._

_"Maybe's not good enough," Gabrael said, in true Van Helsing fashion._

_He turned Mikael around and gently kissed her. After a brief second's surprise, her eyes fluttered shut and she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders._

_"Yes," she whispered._

_Gabrael grinned and grabbed Mikael, dipping her and leaning her over the edge of the balcony. She squealed and clung to him tightly._

_"What was that?" he asked._

_"Gabrael! Let me up!" Mikael exclaimed._

_"What did you say?" he asked._

_Mikael's face hardened, and she looked every inch the princess she was._

_"Gabrael Van Helsing, let me up this instant."_

_He grinned, completely unaffected. "What did you say?" he demanded._

_"Yes, I'll marry you," she said. "Now let me up!!"_

_He did so, catching her up into his arms and jumping off the balcony before letting her down and kissing her again, claiming her as his._

"You changed after that," Dracula said, disappointment and sadness in his voice. "What you had loved and honored your entire life- your title, the world into which you'd been born, your friends- you left them all. Gabrael was your entire world. He had complete control over you."

A momentary irritation flooded through me. Gabrael didn't control me, and he never had. We were partners, equal in all things…

_Are you so sure?_ purred a traitorous voice in my ear. _You don't remember everything yet. And look back at what you do remember- who made all the decisions? Who made all the plans? Who was the leader, and who was the follower?_

I wished I could shut that voice up, but I couldn't. Because it was my voice that spoke to me in the darkness, making me doubt everything I'd thought I'd known about Gabrael.

_Mikael stood on the balcony, staring up at the stars. Her arms were wrapped around herself in an effort to stave off the chill of the autumn evening._

_She jumped in surprise as a warm cloak was drawn over her shoulders. She turned to see a twenty-year-old young man standing behind her. His blond hair was tied back off his face with a white ribbon. His white shirt and blue breeches and jacket denoted his status as an aristocrat. His blue-green eyes looked down at her lovingly, his sensual lips parted in a smile as he beheld her._

_"Do you live to scare me like that?" she mock-scolded him._

_"Yes," he grinned. "Hello to you too, Ana."_

_He wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head. Mikael stiffened slightly, suddenly very aware of how close they were._

_"Raphael…" she started to speak, but he cut her off._

_"Ana, you know that everyone's been expecting us to announce our engagement for years. What if we did it? What if we got married? Would that be so terrible? You know I care about you, and I know you care for me, even if it's just a little. Marry me, Ana."_

_Mikael turned slowly, her face falling as she tried to phrase her response in a way that would let him down easily._

_"Raphael… I'm flattered. But I… I'm engaged to Gabrael. I'm sorry."_

_Raphael's face hardened. "Gabrael. You're going to marry Gabrael."_

_Mikael nodded. "I'm sorry."_

_"You do realize that he's just using you?" he asked harshly. "Just using you so he can become a prince. He won't help you rule Transylvania. He doesn't love you, Ana. I could have been everything for you. He only wants you to make himself look better. But you've made your choice. You'll regret it someday, but don't come crying to me when you realize your mistake."_

_He turned on his heel and walked away. Mikael watched him go sadly, but no tears fell from her face as she turned back to look at the stars._

"Raphael never forgave you," Dracula said. "He vowed one day that he would take revenge on you. But we had other problems. Gabrael knew that I would never let you marry him. He was beneath you, couldn't care for you as you deserved to be cared for. He knew that I would never give my blessing, and that you wouldn't marry without it. So he found away around that little problem."

_A twenty-year-old woman walked through her home, calling for her father. She furrowed her brow when he didn't answer her; that had never happened before…_

_Lifting the skirts of her dark green riding dress, she walked upstairs to her father's office. She opened the door… and stared in horror._

_The body of her beloved father lay on the ground, his eyes still open in hatred. His blood moved lazily across the floor, moving slowly but surely towards his daughter._

_She looked up slowly, and began shaking as her eyes met the gaze of her fiance, who still held a blood-stained dagger in his hand._

_"You… you killed him…" Mikael choked, staggering towards her father._

_"Yes," Gabrael said._

_"Why?" she asked brokenly._

_"You yourself said he held you prisoner here," Gabrael said. "He was going to force you to marry Raphael, Mikael. He was never going to let you live your own life. But now we can leave. We can get married, and do whatever we want to do."_

"Gabrael took you to Rome, and you were married November 1, 1462," Dracula said. "You insisted on returning to Transylvania, to fulfill your destiny and become the ruler you were meant to be."

I looked down, a confusing torrent of emotions overwhelming me. Love for Gabrael, anger that he had murdered my father, guilt that I hadn't stopped it, grief at losing my father, a strange ecstacy that I had found him again, relief at finally knowing who I was, fear for my future.

_A twenty-one-year-old woman ran through her home frantically, running away from the peasants who refused to live under her rule. It wasn't that she was a bad ruler; in fact, she was the best ruler to have come out of the Valerious line. It wasn't her gypsy blood to which they objected._

_But she was the daughter of the demon prince, the spawn of darkness. The Angel of Hell, they called her. They feared her, Princess Mikael and her father. Everyone knew that he was now one of the undead, the king of the vampyre. Just the name of Prince Vlad, of Count Dracula, was enough to send the stoutest of hearts into a frightened panic._

_Mikael shut and bolted the door, then leaned against it, panting. The fear showed itself in the sweat upon her white brow, in the nervous energy of her every movement, in the wild depths of her normally tranquil gray eyes._

_She froze when a familiar voice cut through the silence, still seductive, though it was laced with cold hatred._

_"I told you that you would regret not marrying me."_

_"Raphael," she whispered._

_He stepped out of the shadows, his eyes glowing with a strange light as he moved with catlike grace towards her._

_"Hello, Ana."_

_"It was you… you incited the people to rebel," she said._

_"Yes," he said simply._

_"Why?" she asked._

_"I told you, Ana, that marrying Gabrael would be a mistake," he said. "He cannot protect you."_

_"What do you want, Raphael?" Mikael asked, more bravely than she felt._

_Raphael smirked, and in the depths of his eyes Mikael saw exactly what was going to happen to her. Oh god…_

_The circular room, usually kept in good order, was a scene of chaos. Furniture was overturned, curtains were ripped, books and trinkets were thrown to the floor. It unmistakably told the story of a struggle._

_Lying on the chaise before the fireplace was a woman, no older than twenty-one. Her gleaming black hair lay tumbled around her head, and looked like some sort of dark halo. Her arm hung limply off the edge of the chaise. Her blood-red corset dress was untied up the front, exposing the creamy skin of her abdomen and chest. Mikael's large gray eyes stared out blankly at the body on the floor, but they were glazed over with death. Tiny droplets of blood oozed out of the two small puncture wounds in her neck._

_A baby girl lay on the floor, tossed aside like a rag doll. Her large green eyes stared blankly. Alena's head fell at an odd angle; she had been grabbed, shaken, and then tossed on the floor. The fall had broken her neck._

_A man leaned over Mikael, smirking. His blond hair was pulled back neatly. His startling blue-green eyes roamed over Mikael's exposed body, gleaming possessively. His full, sensual lips parted as he lowered himself toward her soft flesh. His normally pale skin was flushed as her blood coursed through his veins._

_"You don't belong to Gabrael, Ana," Raphael whispered. "You're mine."_

"Raphael found me, convinced me to turn him and his brother into vampyre," Father said. "Raphael swore he would win you back. One night, when Gabrael was out of the country, tracking a warlock who'd been causing trouble, Raphael came to you. When he couldn't seduce you, he killed your daughter, Alena, and bit you, draining you of your life's blood."

"But I didn't die," I said.

"No," Father said. "You cannot die, and cannot be turned into a vampyre, because of who and what you are."

"What am I?" I asked, breathless.

"An angel," Father said.

I froze as I was shaken to the core. An angel? Me? What?!

"But… how…?" I asked.

"When your mother was pregnant, she went into the wilderness to find her gypsy clan," Father explained. "They asked God to send down a protector of the land, a savior of Transylvania. And then you were born."

Another ripple of shock coursed through me as I remembered Mother Agnes' words from so long ago.

_Mikael... Who is like God... It is the proper Hebrew name for St. Michael, the Prince of Archangels…_

I felt my memories open completely as I finally learned who I was. I was the Archangel Mikael, born into a human body, sent to protect Transylvania from all evil. That was why I had such fighting skills, why I feared no evil. I could fear no evil, because I was all light…

"You cannot and will not be made into a full vampyre until you renounce that part of yourself," Father said. "I learned that the night Raphael killed you. I found you as you stood upon the threshold of death. My blood could not turn you into a vampyre, but it did save you. You became a half-vampyre. You have all the powers of a vampyre, but not the bloodlust."

Slowly, other, older memories floated into my brain. Memories of a life before I had been born to Dracula, when Gabrael and I had fought evil together. Thousands of years of history flashed before my eyes, memories of battles that had taken place before the Roman Empire was founded, before the Mesopotamians became powerful. My memory stretched all the way back to the beginning of mankind, when Gabrael, the Archangel of the Apocalypse, and I forced Adam and Eve out of Eden, and beyond, back to the day of our creation.

I jerked up as someone knocked on the door, feeling myself being ripped out of the past and being forced back into the present. I laid back onto the pillows, feeling exhausted and sick.

"Come in," my father called.

In walked a man with blond hair and blue-green eyes. He, like my father, was dressed entirely in black. A possessive smirk danced across his face.

My heart broke to see Raphael, who had once been an Archangel like Gabrael and me, and to see how far he had fallen.

"Hello, Ana," he said in a low, hypnotic voice.

"Hello, Raphael," I said, my voice choked with tears.

He smiled cruelly, very slowly and very obviously giving me the once-over. I fought not to shield myself from his gaze.

"You haven't changed a bit," he said in obvious pleasure.

"But you have," I said, raising my head. "What happened to you, Raphael?"

His face darkened. "This is who I was meant to be," he said. "This is what your true destiny is, Ana. Don't be deluded by dreams of glory and service to God. God doesn't care about us. So why not do whatever we want?"

I turned to face my father, who had a proud look on his face, as if he had just arranged the greatest alliance known to man.

"What is he doing here?" I asked.

Dracula smiled. "He is here so that you can be married."

I froze, stunned. Well, that had been… unexpected.

"Didn't we just establish the fact that I'm already married?" I asked.

"When one of you doesn't remember that fact, it's hard to call it a marriage," Dracula said.

"And besides, your Gabrael seems to be very interested in Anna," Raphael smirked.

I looked away, clenching my jaw as his low blow jarred my heart.

"Come, my Mikael," my father said. "Become who you were born to be. Join me. Be my princess once more."

"I am who I was born to be," I replied.

"No. You are who you were trained to be," Dracula said. "This is not your destiny, Mikael. Gabrael is not your future. That is only running away from what you are. Embrace what you are, Mikael."

"Why pine for a husband who no longer loves you? Why slave for a church that calls you and your kind abominations?" Raphael said. "Fight back, Ana. Make them pay for all they've done to you."

I wanted to fight them, but I made the mistake of looking into their eyes. One vampyre's trance I could fight, but not two at once.

I felt myself losing touch with who I was, with everything I had just learned. Everything I wanted was being wiped away, and all that was left was… what I was supposed to be.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note**: Every story has a crisis point that directly leads to the climax. I guess this chapter is that climax point. I tried to build as much angst and emotion into the end of the chapter as I could, so enjoy!

Special thank-you to Kairi's-twin for all the wonderful reviews! Thank you for the ego-boosting, and the last-minute plot ideas that came from reading your reviews!

: Gabrael's POV :

Normally, I don't like cemetaries. Cold, gray, cheerless places, if you ask me. I don't like the feeling of being surrounded by nothing but death. Mikael, for some reason, seems to love it, and goes to cemetaries to rest and meditate. I think she's crazy.

But for once, I didn't notice my surroundings as Carl and I struggled to heave Frankenstein into an old, empty mausoleum. I was focused on more important things, like trying not to break my back.

"I'm sure this is some sort of sin," Carl said.

"Don't worry, God will forgive us," I said offhandedly. "We need to save Anna and Mikael."

I grabbed a big, heavy stone cross headstone to prop against the door, trying to turn my head to see where Carl had gotten to.

"You don't think the hat's a bit much, do you?" he asked, trying to look up to see his jester's cap.

"Carl, help me!" I snapped.

"Oh, right," he said, scurrying to help. "How many commandments can we break in one day?"

I rolled my eyes. Breaking commandments was never one of my biggest worries. After all, that's what confession is for.

"Anyway," Carl said, "according to the books, you won't turn into a werewolf until the rising of your first full moon. That's two nights from now. Even then, you'll still be able to fight Dracula's hold over you until the final stroke of midnight."

"Sounds like I have nothing to worry about," I said as we walked away.

"Oh my God, you should be terrified!" Carl said in astonishment.

"Thank you."

"Sorry."

I shook my head; Carl had never been the best to turn to for comfort. That had been Mikael…

I winced as I thought of her again. I tried not to worry about her, but found that it was impossible. Where was Dracula keeping her? Was she safe? Had he tried to turn her?

"Well, we still have 48 hours to find a solution," Carl said. He turned back to look at the mausoleum. "You sure he can't get out of there?"

"Not without some help from the dead," I replied.

I never learn.

Had I waited another few seconds, I might have seen the hand creeping out of the slightly ajar lid of a stone coffin…

I looked down at the vampyric ball from the balcony. It was like the Cirque de Soleil. People in elegant black costumes performed the complicated steps of a formal dance. There were jugglers, fire-breathers, singers, everything. I scanned the crowd in vain for Anna and Mikael, trying to form a plan.

Dracula stood on the stairs. "Attention, my dear friends," he said. "Tonight is a night to celebrate! My daughter, Princess Mikael, has finally returned home. Not only that, but she will also be married at last, to Count Raphael de Lioncourt!"

I gripped the balcony, dark anger flooding through me that I didn't fully understand. It was a violent anger, a protective anger… a possessive anger?

Mikael? _My_ Mikael? Married? To _him_?!

I felt an old, deep, instinctual hatred for the man who stood at Dracula's side. I didn't know how I knew him, I just knew that I hated him.

Everyone raised their glasses- full of a questionable red liquid- as the double doors opened. Raphael turned, his eyes gleaming as Mikael glided through the doors.

She was scantily clothed in a white dress that faded to black at the hem of the skirt and the sleeves. The V-neck plunged almost all the way to her navel. The sides of the bodice were covered only by the sheerest gauze embroidered with crystal beads. The sleeves were long and open, revealing her arms. The skirt hung low off her hips and flared out around her knees to a fuller width. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. She looked, in every way, like a vampyre princess.

I watched in anger and helpless rage as Dracula placed an ornate silver and onyx tiara atop her black curls. She looked up at her father, and that's when I saw that she had been heavily tranced. I bent my head, my heart breaking; Mikael was beyond my help now.

I leave her on her own for five minutes… and she gets herself in more trouble than anyone should ever be allowed to get themselves into. And I couldn't get her out this time. I had to let her go.

Carl stared at Mikael, then at me, then at Mikael again.

"Well," he said, "that's not good."

"Do you see Anna?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from Mikael's face with great reluctance.

"There," Carl said, pointing to her.

She was in a blood-red dress, the only spot of color in the otherwise black room. She was on Dracula's arm, and also very obviously tranced.

I looked up to see a trapeze artist swinging close by. An idea slowly formed in my head… if I could just reach Anna…

"Carl, I need you to do something," I said.

"I'm not gonna like this, am I?" he asked fearfully.

: Mikael's POV :

I refused to pay any attention to my father and Anna. If he wanted to make a bride of her, that was his affair. She wasn't my problem. I had enough on my plate, trying to keep from losing myself completely under Raphael's trance.

Somewhere deep within me, I still held onto a kernel of hope that Gabrael would come, that he would save me. Yes, he had hurt me, had betrayed me both in the past and now. But… he needed me… didn't he? I was his partner; he had saved my life so many times… surely he would come to help me…?

Raphael happened to look up once, and a devious smirk grew on his face.

"My love, we have company," he said, turning me in the course of the dance.

I stood frozen, my eyes locked with Gabrael's.

Everything seemed to slow down. Gabrael's eyes didn't leave mine… but it wasn't me he took in his arms as he flew off on the trapeze. No, it was _Anna_ he grabbed, _Anna_ he flew with to the balcony, _Anna_ he held in his arms as the effects of the trance wore off.

And it was _my_ heart that broke and refroze into ice. _My_ love and hopes that were dashed and lost. _My_ destiny that was altered.

The last bit of hope in me died. I lost all sense of who I had been- the Princess of Light.

Fine. If Gabrael really didn't care one way or the other, fine. He could go his way, and I would go mine.

It was time for the reign of the Angel of Darkness.

: Gabrael's POV :

I couldn't bite back a scream of rage as Raphael sunk his teeth into Mikael's neck. Rage because I hadn't saved her, hatred because of Raphael, guilt because of the one tear that fell down Mikael's cheek, and a hot, intense emotion that I couldn't place but knew I knew, something that was essentially tied to Mikael, something that I couldn't believe I hadn't felt before.

Mikael crumpled in a heap to the ground, cradled by Raphael, who drained her body of its lifeblood. Dracula crossed to them in a few long strides and knelt beside them. I could only watch helplessly as he slit his wrist and let the blood drip into Mikael's mouth.

I blinked back hot tears, my chest tightening as _my_ Mikael was made into a vampyre; was made into the Princess of the Vampyre.

"Gabrael," Dracula called lazily, taunting me in my anger.

Slowly, not trusting myself to speak, I walked towards the banister.

"Gabrael… oh Gabrael… oh Gabrael…" he continued to call, smirking as our eyes met. "Welcome to my summer palace."

He sneered at me, memories of our mysterious past flying past his eyes. I returned the glare, the look only intensifying as Mikael rose and took her place at Dracula's right hand.

"Master, Master! Look, Master, look!" a little vampyre child called.

Everyone silently turned to see six strong vampyre carrying Frankenstein's monster in on a large slab of marble. I groaned silently; now Dracula held all the cards.

"You wretched undead!" Frankenstein screamed. "I shall have my revenge! Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil! You are nothing but damned fools and damned souls and will burn in the flames of hell!"

"Now that's rude," Raphael scoffed.

Dracula looked up at me and smiled, pure evil in his gaze, as he wrapped an arm around Mikael's shoulders.

"And now that everything is as it should be… ladies and gentlemen, I give you… VAN HELSING!!"

Everyone in the room, except for Dracula, Raphael, and Mikael, showed their true selves. And God, was it ugly.

"Time to go," I muttered, turning on my heel and running, Carl and Anna behind me.

Regret coursed through my veins as I led them away from the vampyre.

Away from Mikael.

I couldn't help but feel that I was abandoning her. I had always protected her, always made sure she was safe. And now I was leaving her in a place filled with peril, with people who were more dangerous than any monsters we had ever faced together, in a place where she was sure to completely lose everything she had ever been, all she had once held dear.

Carl stopped suddenly and pulled his odd invention out of a pocket.

"Now I know what it's for! Now I know what it's for!" he exclaimed excitedly. He stared at us blankly. "Where are we going?"

"Through that window!" Anna and I exclaimed.

We all jumped out of the window as Carl's light bomb exploded, killing the vampyre who had been chasing us. I closed my eyes, praying Mikael hadn't been among their number.

If we had to kill each other, as it seemed we were going to have to do, I'd prefer we did it face-to-face.

We landed in a moat. I struggled, as did Anna and Carl, to stay afloat; our costumes were heavy and dragged us down.

"Carl, you're a genius!" I exclaimed.

"A genius with access to unstable chemicals," Carl said breathlessly, grinning.

I looked up to see Frankenstein in a boat with Igor and a few Dwerger. I swam towards them as fast as I could, but to no avail. An iron gate dropped before me, trapping me in the moat. Frankenstein looked at me helplessly.

"I'll find you!" I yelled to him. "I'll get you back and set you free! I swear to God!"

I banged my head against the gate and turned to Carl.

"I must save him."

"No, you can't," Carl said helplessly.

"Why?!" I yelled.

"I cabled Rome early to apprise them of our situation," Carl said in the same bleak tone.

"What did they say?" I asked urgently.

"Even if you somehow kill Dracula, Rome orders you to destroy Frankenstein as well," Carl said quickly.

"He isn't evil!" I said indignantly.

"Yes, but they say he isn't human, either," Carl said.

"Do they know him? Have they talked with him? Who are they to judge?!" I asked angrily.

"They want you to destroy him so he can never be used to harm humanity," Carl said apologetically.

A hot anger flooded through me. For two years I had performed missions for the Order, had been reassured that the work I had done was all part of God's plan. But what if I had been wrong? What if all I was doing was the dirty work for a bunch of flawed men? What kind of God was I serving, if I was ordered to kill Frankenstein, a creature who wasn't evil, and Mikael, who I couldn't imagine living without?

"And what of me? Did you tell them what I'm to become?" I yelled, wrapping a hand around Carl's neck and slamming him against the gate. "Did they tell you how to kill me? The correct angle of the stake as it enters my heart? The exact measure of the silver in each bullet? Huh?"

Anna tried to pull me back, but to no avail. I was on too much of a roll, too fueled by my anger at this situation on top of my failure to protect Mikael.

"No, I left you out," Carl squeaked.

I let go of him as an unearthly growl escaped my lips. I was in such pain, such agony. I gasped as the feeling left me.

"I'm sorry," I said weakly. Carl nodded. I bent my head. "It's starting."

A cold fear gripped my heart. I looked up at Carl quickly.

"Mikael. Did you tell them about Mikael?"

"They know who she is," Carl said. "Not that Dracula has her. But they'll find out now that she's been bitten. And…"

I nodded, not letting him finish that thought. I was _not_ going to kill Mikael, as I knew she would _not_ kill me. I'd find some way to save her, even if she couldn't save me.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note**: Wow, it's been forever since I updated this story. Sorry about my absence; I had little to no internet access during the summer. But I'm back at college now, so updates will be more frequent. Enjoy!

* * *

: Gabrael's POV :

When we got back to the Valerious Manor, all I wanted was to get out of my ridiculous costume and go to bed.

Anna had other ideas.

"I _knew_ it!" she exclaimed. "I _knew_ Mikael wasn't to be trusted! All the signs were right there, but _you_! You told me that she wasn't a vampyre! You told me she wasn't evil! And now look at us!"

It's times like this that I remember why I love Mikael.

As a friend, of course. Just a friendly, platonic love, no romantic interest at all.

This was about the last thing I wanted to hear. Especially from Anna. I liked Anna. I really liked her. But no one talks about Mikael like that. Especially not when I'm being angry and worried and confused and very much not in the mood for a discussion like this.

"Mikael isn't evil," I said through clenched teeth.

"Van Helsing, she _chose_ this! She chose to listen to Dracula! She _believed_ him! She believed everything he said to her! She didn't fight at all! She _let_ herself be bitten! She chose to become a vampyre!"

"I wouldn't fight either! He's her father, why wouldn't she believe him?" I yelled back. "Especially if he's offering to explain everything to her?"

"It's Dracula!" she yelled. "If she's as experienced a slayer as you say, she should've known better than to be alone with him!"

"What part of 'he's her father' do you not understand?" I asked. "She's been trying to figure out who she is for two years! And he's the only person who can help her remember!"

"Van Helsing, she's not an angel!" Anna yelled. "She's not as innocent as you think! And if you'd step back from your obsession with her, you'd realize that!"

"You don't even know her!" I yelled.

"Maybe not, but I don't have to know her to know that she chose to become a vampyre. And that makes her my enemy," Anna said. "Someone I will kill, with or without your help."

"And I will stop you, no matter what it takes," I snarled before turning on my heel and storming off.

I ripped off the costume and changed back into my clothes, but found I was completely unable to sleep. Great. Instead, I lay in bed, my mind on Mikael.

I'd always been protective of her, and had always jumped to her defense in argument or struggle. But lately, protecting her hadn't been a simple matter of protecting a friend, even if she was my best friend. I had to keep her safe at all costs, but not because she was my partner.

It wasn't possible that I loved her… or was it? What I felt for her… was that love? Or was it just two years of friendship being threatened by the fact that we were now both monsters?

I felt more guilty than I ever had in my life. I had abandoned Mikael in order to save Anna. Yes, I had been sent to protect Anna, to help her kill Dracula… but I had given up on my partner, my best friend, my Mikael, in order to do so. I knew without a moment's hesitation that Mikael would never have left me behind in the middle of a den of enemies, even if I had just been turned into one of them. And yet I had turned my back on her, she whom I had always sworn to protect at any cost.

And why had I done it? So that I could save Anna. Because I had gotten so attatched to her that I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her with Dracula. So, to save my infatuation, I had jettisoned the only anchor I had ever had. I didn't know if Mikael would ever forgive me, but I knew I would never forgive myself for what I had done to her.

I didn't sleep all night, and I spent the entire next day avoiding Anna and silently fuming, while really trying to keep from analyzing my relationship with Mikael. The day dragged, until finally we were rushing to Castle Frankenstein to stop Dracula. We ran into the laboratory…

Only to find that all the equipment was gone. All that remained in the room was some sort of large metal mancage and dead, damp leaves.

"They must've taken all the equipment to Dracula's lair," Anna said disappointedly.

"Wherever that is," I muttered.

Rage filled me, flooding every vein and nerve in my body. I grabbed the mancage and threw it at the wall; never mind that it weighed about 150 pounds. Better to take my anger out on the mancage than to throw Anna or Carl out the window.

"Look, there's still time," Carl hurriedly said in an attempt to calm me. "Dracula can't bring his children to life until the sun sets."

"The sun sets in two hours," Anna said impatiently. "We've been looking for him for more than 400 years."

"Yes, well, I wasn't around for those 400 years, now was I?" Carl asked smugly.

Carl led us into the library at the manor, hurrying around the room and grabbing papers and paintings in a haphazard way.

"All right, Carl, what have you learned?" I asked.

"That Dracula was actually the son of Valerious the Elder," Carl said. "The son of your ancestor."

Anna shook her head, unimpressed. "Everyone knows that. What else?"

"Oh, all right then," Carl said grumpily.

He led us to a tall standing lamp cover, on which were painted all sorts of scenes and descriptions.

"According to this rubbing, it all started when Dracula was murdered," Carl said, pointing to the rubbing in question.

"Does it say who murdered him?" I asked eagerly.

"No, no, there's just some vague reference here to the left hand of God," Carl said, waving loosely at the Latin. "And in 1462, when Dracula died, he made a covenant with the Devil," he said, holding up a piece of parchment.

"And was given a new life," I said, taking the parchment from Carl and glancing over it.

"But the only way to sustain that life was to drink the blood of others," Anna said.

"Uh, excuse me… Are you gonna let me tell the story?" Carl asked.

"Sorry," Anna and I said.

I rolled my eyes; Carl loved the limelight… Mikael used to say that he should've been an actor, not a friar. Then I winced. I didn't want to think about Mikael right now.

"Now, your ancestor, having sired this evil creature, went to Rome to seek forgiveness," Carl said, addressing Anna and mercifully distracting me. "And that's when the bargain was made. He was to kill Dracula in return for eternal salvation for his entire family, right down the line, all the way to you."

"But he couldn't do it," Anna said. "As evil as Dracula was, my ancestor couldn't kill his own son."

I took the family tree from Anna's hand, glancing at the many names.

_Ana Mikael Ruxandra Valerious-Draculia, daughter of Vladislaus Draculia…_

I clenched my jaw in an attempt to keep my emotions in check. Mikael… how bitterly I'd failed her…

My eyes fell on a name beside Mikael's. At first I didn't register it… and then I stared.

"Uh-oh," Carl mumbled.

He tried to snatch the parchment from me, but I was too quick for him and held it above the reach of his arm.

"You knew?" I croaked.

"Not until last night," Carl replied.

"And… and Mikael…?" I asked.

Carl sighed. "I'm pretty sure she knows."

I groaned, all of a sudden feeling very guilty for the feelings I'd developed for Anna. At the same time, the emotions I felt regarding Mikael suddenly made perfect sense.

The guilt increased tenfold at the thought that I had abandoned my wife, hadn't even realized who and what she was to me. The guilt then increased a hundredfold as I realized that of course Mikael had known. No wonder she had been so protective of me, so jealous of Anna. My betrayal was even deeper than I'd imagined, and I wouldn't blame Mikael if she loathed me right now.

"Gabrael… you have to kill her," Carl said hesitantly.

"No," I said immediately.

"She's Dracula's firstborn. And a vampyre," Carl said. "The Valerious swore to wipe Dracula from their line. That includes his offspring."

"No!" I yelled. "I'm not killing her!"

Carl sighed. "Then you'd best hope there's a cure for vampyrism."

My throat constricted as Carl said that. I knew perfectly well there was no cure, just as there was none for lycanthropy. Even if I refused, as a Knight of the Order, to kill Mikael, it would be in my animal nature to kill her anyway.

I had only just learned that Mikael and I belonged together. Now it seemed that God and destiny were determined to keep us apart.

And I didn't know how to defy destiny.

"So… moving on…" I said, desperate to get the rest of the information I needed.

Carl nodded, anxious to move away from the topic of the family tree. "Right, so he banished him to an icy fortress, sending him through a door from which there could be no return."

"And then the Devil gave him wings," Anna said. Carl nodded.

"Okay, so where is this door?" I asked, putting down the family tree.

"I don't know," Carl said. I gave him a look, and he hurriedly continued. "But when your ancestor couldn't kill his son, he left clues, so that future generations might do it for him."

Anna nodded. "That must be what my father was looking for in here, clues to the door's location."

Something clicked in my head. "The door. Of course." I took off for that painting of Transylvania Anna had shown me. "You said your father spent hours looking at this painting, trying to find the location of Dracula's lair. I think you were right, quite literally. I think this is the door," I said, motioning to the painting. "Only he didn't know how to open it."

Carl moved aside a chair and began reading the Latin on the side of the painting. Anna shook her head.

"If this were a door, my father would have opened it long ago," she objected.

"I can't finish the inscription," Carl said. "There's a piece missing."

I smiled and dug around in my trench coat pocket for the little silver tube the Cardinal had given me. I opened it to reveal the Latin inscription.

"Your father didn't have this," I said.

"Where did you get that?" Anna asked.

I didn't answer; I was too excited. "Finish it, Carl," I said, handing him the parchment. As Carl read the Latin, I repeated in English, "In the name of God, open this door."

The painting turned into a big, shiny… mirror?!

"A mirror," Carl said.

I rolled my eyes; thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Dracula has no reflection in a mirror," Anna said.

"But why?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Maybe…" Carl said. "Maybe to Dracula it's not a mirror at all."

I walked up to the mirror and pressed on the glass. It melted away, and I pulled my hand back.

"It's cold," I smiled. "And it's snowing." I grabbed a torch and walked back to the mirror. "See you on the other side."

Anna stopped me. "Be careful."

I walked through the mirror without answering her, my mind on nothing but Mikael. I looked up, in awe of the castle before me. Dracula was a bastard, but he had a damn nice castle…

I turned when I heard Anna walking through the mirror, and reached out to help her. She, like I, stared at the imposing sight.

"Castle Dracula," she breathed.

Mikael was in there somewhere. The thought of her being here as the prisoner of Dracula and Raphael made my blood boil. I was getting her the hell out of here, and killing them in the process.

And then we would get out of here, and defy fate together, as we'd always done.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note**: Okay, this is the second-to-last chapter of this story. You might want to kill me when you get to the end of this chapter, and when you read ch. 17. So I will say this right now: **THERE IS A SEQUEL**, and all story lines will be completed then. That's why I write sequels, so that I can indulge myself and write things like what you're about to read. I promise, I will fix everything in the sequel!

Oh, and please keep in mind the last sentence of Gabrael's POV, that'll be important in the sequel.

* * *

: Mikael's POV :

_The moment Raphael's teeth grazed my neck, the instant my nostrils filled with his sweet, incense-like scent, I knew I was lost._

_There was a moment of pain as his canines broke through my skin, but in an instant the pain was overridden by a hot, sensuous pleasure. It washed over me in waves, each more focused and intense than the last. My heartbeat stuttered and died as my pulse slowed to match the rhythm of Raphael drinking my blood._

_The heat overtook every molecule of my body, and as it happened I knew I was being bound to him. I would be his possession, his slave, his queen. Our lives, if they could be called such, would be tied together; I would never be able to escape him, as long as I lived._

_Following on the heels of the heat was an icy coldness as the venom flowed through me, taking the place of my blood. Everything seemed to harden; I became an animated statue of marble, beautiful and terrifying. What I had been, who I had known myself to be, was wiped away as the venom made me into a new creation. _

_As an angel, I had been beyond my body, had barely needed the physical necessities. As a vampyre I was a slave to my thirst. I had once had a direct connection to the Almighty, but that was severed now. I was no longer a creature of the light; I now belonged in the shadows, the darkness, the place where light could never come._

_Once, I had been Gabrael's other half. God had created us as one being, then split us in two- Gabrael as the Left Hand of God taking on masculine qualities, I as the Right Hand, feminine. We had been each other's perfect match, created to complement each other in every way. But this transformation had severed us. No longer an angel, no longer a creature of God, there was no one for me but the other fallen one- Raphael, who in his fury had abandoned heaven so long ago, after God let such horrible things happen to humans, the creatures Raphael had loved above all._

_The transformation took only moments. Mere seconds, and my entire life was rearranged. It could never be undone. I hadn't chosen this, but I could not- and would not- stop it. What was left for me? Gabrael didn't remember me, didn't want me. The Order did just fine without me. I had been sent down in a human body to care for Transylvania, and that was what I would do._

I was awoken from a deep sleep plagued by recurring dreams of my recent transformation by the low rumble of voices in another part of the palace. My newly-vampyric eyes adjusted almost instantly to the darkness of my chamber. I sat up and got out of the large four-poster canopy bed, pulling a shawl over my shoulders. I poured blood out of a silver pitcher into a matching goblet and drank deeply; my father had decided that I wasn't yet ready to feed the conventional way, so he had harvested blood for me in this fashion.

After I'd drunk the entire goblet, I tilted my head, focusing on the sounds I heard. Was it just me, or was I hearing a very familiar low voice in the Great Hall?

A huge smile broke over my face as I sprinted as fast as vampyrically possible to a balcony overlooking the hall. I hadn't been dreaming; Gabrael had come.

_I knew he would come for me._

Gabrael stared Carl down, handing him a silver stake. "If I'm not cured by the final stroke of midnight-"

He activated the spring-action stake and handed it to Carl, who took it with trembling fingers. I covered my mouth with my hand to silence my gasp. He couldn't order Carl to kill him, he couldn't! I couldn't imagine a world without him. Even though we had been parted forever by our separate rebirths, it had never occurred to me that I would someday walk through the world without him. I could not, would not, let him die.

"I don't think I could," Carl said, shaking his head.

"You must," Gabrael said.

I shook my head in horror. I couldn't let him die! Even though he didn't care, even though he had Anna, I loved him too much to let him go. Surely there must be another way!

_Why me? Why is it __**always**__ me?! How do I __**always**__ get myself into situations like this??_

* * *

: Gabrael's POV :

Carl and Igor took off for whatever part of the palace the supposed antidote for lycanthropy was stored. As Anna moved to follow them, I grabbed her arm.

"If you're late, run like hell," I said. She nodded, and turned again to go. I grabbed her arm again. "Don't be late."

Our gazes locked for a moment. Then Anna pulled me into a fierce kiss. Which, I admit, I thoroughly enjoyed. I watched as she ran off, sighing.

_Goodbye, Anna._

How I knew it was goodbye, I didn't know. But I knew it was.

My eyes happened to stray upwards, to catch Mikael's gaze. Her eyes held so much anger, acceptance, hurt, so much… something very akin to love.

Guilt washed over me in a tidal wave. I had betrayed her. Again.

Mikael stared at me for a second longer, and her expression turned angry, hateful. A chill ran up my spine. Then, before I had even registered that she had moved, she was gone.

* * *

: Mikael's POV :

Oh, that hurt. I mean, I had known all along that:

(a) Gabrael didn't love me.

(b) Gabrael had no idea we'd been married for over 400 years.

(c) Gabrael had a thing for Anna.

But it still hurts to see the one you love, in love with someone else.

A hot, strong anger flooded my veins. This was war. If he didn't care about me, then fine. I didn't care about him. Would I kill him? Of course not. But I wouldn't let him win.

I walked through the castle, to the balcony that was opposite the laboratory window. I closed my eyes and hurled myself off the banister, smiling as my wings popped out of my back. I didn't have a Hellbeast form; soft, coal-black wings appeared out of my back, but that was it. I flew into Father's laboratory.

"Father!" I called as I flew towards him.

"Ah, Mikael!" he said, his eyes shining with pride. "That is very good."

"Father, Gabrael is here," I said. "We should start now, before he can stop us."

Father snarled, then turned to the Dwerger. "Let us begin!"

We watched, almost bored, as the Dwerger ran around, flipping switches and beginning the preliminary processes. I lazily watched as Frankenstein was hoisted into the air, up to the top of the tower.

A few moments later, I glanced up to be sure the monster was in place so the experiment could begin. My eyes grew huge.

"Father!" I shrieked.

Father followed my gaze and saw Gabrael trying to set the monster free. Enraged, he changed form, flying up to the roof. He shoved Gabrael through the opening, down to the ground where I stood.

Gabrael groaned in pain as he hit the flagstone floor. Faster than sight, I growled and grabbed him by the throat, slamming him against the wall.

"Hello, Gabrael," I hissed.

"I'm sorry, Mikael," he said softly.

My eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I'm so sorry," he repeated. "I didn't know, I swear I didn't. You know I would never hurt you willingly. How could I? I love you, Mikael. I wouldn't hurt you for the world."

"Yeah, well, you did, Gabrael," I spat out. "Some partner you turned out to be."

He flinched in pain, then threw me to the side a split-second before Father attacked him. I sprung up to defend Gabrael before I knew I'd moved, but stopped when I realized what I'd been about to do. No. Let his precious Anna save him; I was done.

"You are too late, Gabrael," Father said. "My children live."

Gabrael nodded. "Then the only way to kill them is to kill you."

Father shrugged. "Correct."

Gabrael chuckled darkly. "So be it."

The clock struck midnight. Gabrael doubled over in pain, howling. When he looked up, his skin split to reveal the werewolf within. I stared in utter shock at the monster my other half had become, and I realized suddenly that I was just as monstrous as he was, if I abandoned him now, on this night when he needed me the most. On the final stroke of midnight, he would become my father's slave if he couldn't kill him.

"No," I whispered.

I whipped my head around, looking for anything I could use to stab Father. It wouldn't kill him, I knew that, but it could distract him for long enough to give Gabrael a chance.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked a voice at my ear.

The air rushed out of my lungs as Raphael slammed me into the wall. He glared down at me, leaning in threateningly.

"You listen to me, Mikael," he snarled. "Gabrael is our enemy."

I glared. "He is no enemy of mine."

"He abandoned you," he said harshly. "He cares nothing for you."

"Fine," I said. "I will still help him."

"Over my dead body," he said slowly, menacingly.

"That can be arranged," I replied.

He swung forward to hit me. I used the moment to escape his grasp and duck under his arm, then sprint to the other side of the lab. Raphael turned, incensed, just in time to catch the makeshift stake of wood in his heart. I knew that wouldn't be enough to kill him, so while he howled in pain I sprinted for the pile of clothes Gabrael had shed, and grabbed his gun and a bottle of holy water. I coated the bullets with the holy water, then fired off all six rounds.

"We could be partners, Mikael!" he screamed.

"I already have a partner," I snarled. "And his name is Gabrael Van Helsing."

Normally, for a vampyre as powerful as Raphael- he was second only to my father in power- holy water would not be very effective. But Raphael had once been an angel, so sanctified weapons would do more damage to him than anything. He screamed in pain and fell to the floor, disintegrating into a pile of ash.

Biting back a gasp of pain as he died, knowing that I had just signed my own death warrant, I turned back towards the fight between Gabrael and Father.

* * *

: Gabrael's POV :

"We are both players in the great same game, Gabrael," Dracula said as he changed back to human form. "And yet we find ourselves on opposite sides of the board!"

He changed into his Hellbeast form, and we charged each other again, fighting fiercely (is there any other way to fight?).

"You are being used, Gabrael. As was I," Dracula said as he resumed a human form. "But I escaped. So can you."

When I growled at him, he changed again and we continued trying to kill each other like civilized monsters. I managed to tear his wing, so when he changed back to human, his arm was broken. Gabrael 1, Dracula 0.

"Do you understand?" he asked frantically. "We could be friends! Partners! Brothers in arms!"

I shook my head. There would be no deal-making with Dracula.

He, seeing this, changed tactics. "Did I mention that it was you who murdered me?"

Well, now he had my attention.

"It must be such a burden, such a curse, to be the left hand of God," he sneered when he saw my blank stare. "Mikael really didn't tell you anything, did she?"

"Tell me what?" I asked, curious despite myself.

Dracula laughed, sneering at me. "Will I be the one to tell you all these details from your life, Gabrael? That you murdered me so that you could marry my daughter? That you had a child, a little daughter? That Alena was killed the night Raphael bit Mikael? That it was I, not you, who saved her, who fed her drops of my blood to make her half-vampyric?"

I stared at him, then turned to Mikael. She met my gaze, and in her eyes were tears of regret, and anger… and pain.

"All I want is life, Gabrael," Dracula said. "The continuation of my kind. And perhaps, the return of my ring."

He held up his left hand, to reveal he had only four fingers. I looked down at the ring on my finger. Well, that explained where that had come from. Good to be informed.

"Don't be afraid, Gabrael," Dracula said. "Don't be afraid. I shall give you back your memory."

I shook my head. "Some things are better left forgotten."

We changed form one last time. I charged Dracula and ripped his throat out. He screamed in hatred as he died, black blood oozing out of his neck.

I could hear the sounds of thousands of vampyre babies biting the dust. Aww… whoops.

And then the true consequence of all my actions hit me dead in the heart.

Mikael gasped in pain, clutching her chest. Her breath came in short gasps, and she looked like she was in intense pain. Even in my werewolf form, my eyes widened as I realized what was happening.

_"Because if we kill him, anything bitten by him or created by him will also die."_

Mikael was Dracula's firstborn, and a vampyre of his own creation.

* * *

: Mikael's POV :

I clutched my chest, feeling my insides turning to dust, finishing the job begun the moment I'd killed Raphael. Even through the intense pain, I saw Anna running up out of nowhere, the antidote in her hand. She charged Gabrael, and he pounced on her. Carl showed up, clutching the spring-action stake.

"God forgive me," he whimpered as he ran towards Gabrael.

"No! GABRAEL!!" I screamed.

Vampyre speed is a useful thing.

Gabrael caught me as I fell into his chest. He slowly changed back to human form and clutched at me, staring at the stake that stuck out of my back. A lone tear of pain trickled down my face.

"Mikael! No," he whispered.

I lifted a trembling hand to gently caress his face, panting slightly as my vision swam.

"La revedere, meu dragoste," I murmured in Romanian with the last of my breath.

_Farewell, my love._

* * *

: Gabrael's POV :

I held Mikael's hand to my face, silently begging her to live but knowing that she was going to die. I leaned down and kissed her one last time, in that gesture telling her all the hundreds of things I couldn't say.

That I was sorry I hadn't known the truth about us until it was too late to save her.

That I was sorry I'd almost fallen for Anna.

That I was sorry I couldn't save her from her father and Raphael.

That I loved her.

With a last soft sigh, Mikael's silver eyes grew cloudy and unfocused. She had just enough strength to back out of my arms before her body dissolved in ash.

Mikael was gone.

Tears filled my eyes, tears of pain and remorse. I knew the truth now, but it had come too late to save her. Mikael was dead, and so was my hope of a second chance.

I turned to see Anna laying on a chaise lounge. Also dead. I cried out loud as I picked her up; yet another person that I had killed, another I had failed.

I picked Anna up cavalier style, tears streaming down my face. I took one last look at the pile of ash that had once been Mikael, and walked out of the castle, back to the mirror that would take me to the Valerious Manor.

Had I waited another minute, I would have heard a sizzling, popping noise and a soft inhale of oxygen…


	17. Chapter 17

: Gabrael's POV :

I fought to keep back the tears as we came back to the Valerious Manor. I lay Anna down on the nearest chaise, then left Carl to prepare her for cremation. We were going to scatter her ashes over the Adriatic Sea. She'd always wanted to go to the sea…

Walking almost automatically, I went upstairs to Mikael's old room. I stood in the doorframe for a moment and closed my eyes; I could still smell her, could feel her. The room was drenched with her presence. If I had been expecting comfort, I was disappointed; this last remnant of her life drove home the fact that she had died, that I would never get her back, and it ratcheted the pain up to a new, exquisitely excriciating level.

A large painting hung over the fireplace. Mikael and her mother sat in the foreground, with Dracula standing behind them. Ana had a hand on Mikael's shoulder. Dracula held one of Mikael's hands in both of his own, and smiled upon her proudly. Mikael sat between her parents, basking in their love. Her long black hair was down around her shoulders, a beautiful contrast to her white dress. A ghost of a smile parted her lips. There was a hint of purple in her silver eyes. The sweetness in her gaze broke my heart.

I broke down in tears under Mikael's gaze. I sank to my knees, gripping the sides of the fireplace, sobs racking my whole body. I shuddered violently as my vision swam. My head hurt so much it felt as if it had been cleft in two. Then, in a rush, every memory I had ever lost came back to me.

And I knew everything.

How could I not have known? Even though I had lost my memory, I had always known that Mikael had once been special to me, that my feelings for her were different.

Mikael was my angel. And now she was gone. I couldn't tell her how I needed her, how I loved her.

It was too late. I was alone.

My head shot up as Dracula's voice played about my head. He had said that Mikael and I had had a child…

I got up and ran downstairs and outside, to the small family cemetary. When I got to the small, crumbling headstone, tears filled my eyes.

_Alena Kathryn Nicoleta Draculia Van Helsing_

_Daughter of Mikael Draculia and Gabrael Van Helsing_

_Te ador, fiica_

There was a letter leaning against the headstone. I snatched it up, instantly recognizing the handwriting as Mikael's. When had she left this here?

_My precious daughter-_

_It has been centuries since I last saw you, held you. Even though my memory was taken from me, I still knew I had lost you. There was always one part of my heart that ached for you._

_I'm so sorry, Alena. I tried to save you. I know that I failed you, but please don't think that I didn't try._

_I carry you with me everywhere I go, my daughter. I will never forget you again._

_All my love,_

_Mother_

I bent my head, hot tears streaming down my face as the letter fell to my side. Mikael hadn't failed. I had. I hadn't been there when my wife and child needed me the most. In fact, I'd never been there _any_ time Mikael had needed me. I'd been nothing but a disappointment to her.

She was better off without me.

But I was worse off without her.

That thought reverberated through my head as I sat before Alena's grave, in the spot where I could still feel snatches of Mikael's presence. It didn't matter what I did anymore; nothing could ever make up for what I had done, what I had failed to do.

I felt myself dying as I sat there. This was the end. The end of Van Helsing… the end of the Left Hand of God… the end of everything.

It didn't matter anymore. Without Mikael, I was nothing.

I'd never be anything ever again.

* * *

The warm light of sunset washed over us as we stood on a cliff overlooking the Adriatic Sea. I cursed my surroundings; it was too beautiful, too serene. The world had been miserable at the moment of Mikael's demise; fierce thunderstorms had ripped through Transylvania for hours after her death. Why should it be so peaceful now, at Anna's cremation?

I glanced in the direction of the harbor, where a ship was anchored that would return Carl and me to Rome. It was a journey that I wasn't looking forward to, and the return to the Basilica would be even worse. To have to explain this mission to Cardinal Alberetti… to explain Mikael's death, and everything we had learned about our pasts… I didn't know if I would be able to handle it.

Below us, Frankenstein rowed away on his raft. He was going to the Arctic, where he would no longer be a threat to humanity. Poor creature; pity we never had a chance to make him a bride. Yet another person I had failed…

I turned my attention to Anna as Carl read from the Bible. She was dressed in a long black garment typical of the Gypsies. She looked so beautiful…

I mentally slapped myself back to my senses. Why was I so affected by Anna's death? I had known her for, what, a month? I'd known Mikael since before time began. And yet when I thought of her death, I couldn't feel anything. I was numb.

I walked towards the funeral pyre, torch in hand. Taking a deep breath, I threw the torch onto the bier, which instantly went up in flames.

I hung my head as the smoke lazily rose up to the sky. Then something caught my eye.

It looked like a soft mist, or a wisp of cloud. It danced around me, then floated up to the heavens. I caught a glimpse of Anna's face then. A single tear fell down her face before she and her family entered Heaven, and the vision dissipated.

I smiled a bit to myself. She was at peace. I was ready to let her go.

But Mikael…

I sighed as Carl and I galloped away. Would I ever be able to let Mikael go?

* * *

**Author's Note**: Thank you all so much for your rabid support of this story. It means so much to me that you liked it so much, and that you cared so much about the fate of the characters. I really hope that the sequel is greeted with just as much enthusiasm. I hope to start posting the sequel, _Return Us to Who We Were_, in a few weeks, after I've gotten a bit more of the story written. See you then!


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